Pole position and a dominant win in both the sprint and the main race marked a clean sweep for Prima Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martin at the 2023 MotoGP San Marino Grand Prix. It was also a Ducati podium lockout with the VR46 Racing rider of Marco Bezzecchi and the factory Ducati of Francesco Bagnaia finishing second and third.
As the race happened
Like was the case in the sprint, Martin led away at the line but Bezzecchi had initially lost out to Bagnaia, with the latter posing a much greater challenge to Martin in the early stages of the race. But as the laps ticked down, Bagnaia, who’s still recovering from bruised legs sustained at last week’s Catalan Grand Prix started to fade away and Bezzecchi, who was also not in peak physical condition took back second place. But neither of them were able to mount a challenge to Martin.
Bezzecchi and Bagnaia instead had to look backwards instead of forwards as the KTM of Brad Binder was closing in on them but an unfortunate fall put that to a halt. However, the fight wasn’t over yet, as 31-time premier class winner, Dani Pedrosa running on a third factory KTM as a wildcard entry was putting intense pressure on Bagnaia till the final lap. But the reigning champion managed to hold off the MotoGP veteran for a fine third place finish.
With Jorge Martin taking a maximum haul of points, the Spaniard is now a proper title contender, as Bagnaia’s points lead has been cut down to 36 points. The next race is going to be a historic one for us India as the inaugural MotoGP Grand Prix of Bharat will take place at the Buddh International Circuit in Noida. It is scheduled to run between September 22-24.
