As the race happened

It looked like a dream weekend for Jorge Martin. A sprint win and then a spectacular from sixth on the grid to take the lead. The Spaniard was in full control, with a comfortable lead of three seconds over Vinales. But disaster struck as Martin crashed out of the race, causing huge complications in the title race for the man who had taken the championship lead for the first time this season after the sprint race. 

Meanwhile, Bagnaia, starting 13th was on the attack, slicing his way through the field and was running second when Martin crashed out. That wasn’t enough for the reigning champion as he hunted down Vinales and grabbed the race lead. But it wasn’t all over as Vinales was keeping him honest and Fabio Quartararo showed ominous late race pace to be right in the mix for the win. Once the chequered flag dropped however, it was Bagnaia who came out on top as a stern reminder to the grid on why he’s world champion and that No.1 is on his Desmosedici.  

With this race win, Bagnaia retakes the lead of the riders’ standings, now extending his lead to 18 points over Jorge Martin with five rounds to go. Racing action will resume in less than seven days at Phillip Island for the Australian Grand Prix, scheduled to run between October 20-22.

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It marks the end of an iconic era in MotoGP history as Marc Marquez and Repsol Honda have shared a timeless bond spanning 11 years. Marquez’ entry into the MotoGP grid was already eye-catching as he was put on a factory Repsol Honda as a rookie in 2013, which was an extremely rare case in MotoGP. It didn’t take him long to win in the premier class as victory at the Grand Prix of the Americas made him the youngest premier class winner in history. Marquez went even further beyond to win his maiden world championship that very same year. 

Of course, Marquez didn’t stop there as he and Honda were a juggernaut, taking titles in 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. Now we all know that momentum came to a crashing halt in 2020 with Marquez suffering the toughest crash of his career at the season opener in Jerez, resulting in a fractured right humerus, essentially ruling him out for the entire season. 

What came after was a long road to recovery with multiple surgeries on that right arm and along the process of this recovery, the Honda’s competitiveness waned as well. 2023 has the most strenuous year of Marquez and Repsol Honda’s partnership with an uncompetitive RC213V that seemed to want to throw riders off the bike in most scenarios. All this meant, Marquez and Honda eventually found it ideal to go their separate ways.

Nevertheless, Marquez and Repsol Honda can be proud of what they have accomplished over the last 11 years, with six premier class titles, 59 wins, 101 podiums and 64 pole positions, making this one of the most successful partnerships in MotoGP history. Now the question is, where will Marquez head next? Reports suggest he will join Gresini Racing alongside his brother, Alex Marquez, onboard a Ducati. This does make for a tantalising scenario come the 2024 season and we can’t wait to see what Marquez can bring to the table on the MotoGP grid on a Ducati. But 2024 is still some ways away and there’s still six more rounds left for the 2023 season. So, Marquez and Repsol Honda will be hoping to end their partnership in style.

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As the race happened

Unlike the sprint, Bezzecchi did manage to get through the opening lap without much trouble aside from Martin taking the lead early on. Bezzecchi took back the lead in quick succession and never looked back enroute to taking the win.

Meanwhile, behind him there was an almighty scrap for second place between championship leader Francesco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin and even the Repsol Honda of Marc Marquez at one point before a mistake at Turn 1 had Marquez slide out of contention. But disaster struck in the closing stages as Bagnaia crashed out of the race. 

The drama didn’t end there as Martin had begun dropping back to the Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo with issues like his riding leather needing to be zipped up again that cost him a second worth of lap time. On the final lap, Martin going wide after the back straight had Quartararo take second place, only for Martin to snatch it back with a bold move in the second sector. Such was the heroic defence of second place for Martin, the Spaniard almost collapsed in parc ferme due to dehydration from the extreme weather conditions over the duration of the 21-lap race.  

Thanks to Francesco Bagnaia’s costly DNF on the factory Ducati, the title race is getting even more intense as the Italian’s lead over Jorge Martin in the riders’ standings has been cut down to just 13 points. 

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The Buddh International Circuit is situated in Noida, with a lap distance of 5.1km that for MotoGP will comprise of 14 turns mainly down to the more streamlined sector 2 that starts after the long back straight. Speaking of the back straight, it is 1006m long which should encourage overtaking. Another thing to anticipate is potentially a new all-time MotoGP top speed record, with the current record of 366.1kmph held by KTM’s Brad Binder.

Ahead of the race, Franceso Bagnaia leads the riders’ standings on the factory Ducati with Prima Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martin in second place, 36 points behind. Track action will commence on September 22, and will run up to September 24, 2023.

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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.

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How things transpired

The mayhem all started on the opening lap when the factory Ducati of Enea Bastianini dropped it into the first corner, causing at least five riders to crash out. Meanwhile, championship leader and reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia started on pole, but his lead only lasted two corners as the other factory Ducati rider had a massive highside fall and had an extremely close call due to the KTM of Brad Binder making contact with his legs.

With all this chaos, the red flag was understandably called out and the good news for Bagnaia was that he managed to escape serious injury and walked away with multiple contusions. His teammate Bastianini on the other hand wasn’t so lucky as he suffered a non-displaced fracture of the medial malleolus in the left ankle as well as a fracture to the second metacarpal on his left hand. This means the Italian will be sidelined for a while which is another hefty blow to an already unlucky season that started with an accident that had left Bastianini sitting out the first five races of the season.

After clearing out the mess from Lap 1, the Prima Pramac Racing Ducati of Jorge Martin took the early lead but was swiftly dispatched by the two Aprilias of Viñales and Aleix Espargaró, who, like in the sprint race, had superior race pace. For most of the race, it was a battle between the two Aprilias for the win, with Espargaró getting the measure of his teammate in the closing stages of the race to take his third premier class win. This win is also a great way to bounce back after the heartbreaking moment last year when a misjudgement in the lap count meant Espargaró dropped from second to fifth on the final lap.

With Bagnaia’s retirement from the race and Jorge Martin scoring a third-place finish, the title fight has gotten that little bit closer with the championship leader’s points gap cut down to 50 points. Next up will be the San Marino Grand Prix scheduled to run at Misano from September 08-10.

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How the race transpired

Like was the case in the sprint, Bagnaia rocketed off the line, avoiding any Lap 1 chaos, with Binder close behind him and the latter’s teammate Jack Miller in third place. However, unlike the sprint, Binder was shadowing Bagnaia for much longer, up until the halfway point of the race where Binder’s race pace started fading away compared to Bagnaia. 

While the top two riders were in a class of their own, the real battle was for third position, After Jack Miller dropped like a stone over the course of the race, it was a close contest between Gresini Racing’s Alex Marquez and the VR46 Racing duo of Marco Bezzecchi and Luca Marini. Some close calls later, the VR46 duo triumphed in the end, finishing third and fourth, a great recovery after the double-DNF disaster in the sprint on Saturday. 

In the title race, Bagnaia’s monstrous consistency sees him pull a good 62 points clear of Jorge Martin and looks in a commanding position to retain his crown. After a week’s break, MotoGP will return to racing action in Barcelona, Spain for the Catalan Grand Prix, scheduled to run between September 01 and 03, 2023. 

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How the race transpired

Off the line, the factory KTM of Jack Miller rocketed into the lead, but it only lasted two sectors as polesitter Marco Bezzecchi took it back and Bagnaia, starting fourth made quick work to be second at the end of the opening lap. But Bagnaia didn’t stop there as the reigning champion took the lead from the VR46 Racing rider.

There was still a lot of race to go, as Bezzecchi kept the pressure on, but before he could mount a serious move, he crashed out of the race. While this was a great post summer break present for Bagnaia in the context of the title race, the two factory Aprilia’s of Aleix Espargaro and Maverick Vinales were hunting him down and taking chunks of his race lead.

Amongst all of this, there was one final twist in the tale, where the classic British weather came into play as a brief spell of rain and the intense battling up front meant the KTM of Brad Binder joined the fight for the win and had even taken second place initially. In the final five laps of the race, even RNF Racing Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira, who started 16th was in the mix and had also taken second at one point in the race. 

In the end, it all came down to the final lap and Aleix Espargaro showed some serious grit with a fantastic move around long-time race leader Bagnaia around the Maggots and Becketts section to take the lead and eventual victory, starting 12th on the grid.

While Bagnaia may have lost the battle for the win at Silverstone, it was a massive win in the title race as difficult races for both Prima Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martin and VR46 Racing’s Marco Bezzecchi, means Bagnaia has extended his lead to 41 points over Jorge Martin.

MotoGP will head next to the Red Bull Ring in Austria for the Austrian Grand Prix, scheduled to run between August 18-20.

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How the race transpired

The intense racing action kicked off with Jack Miller’s KTM rocketing off into the lead but that was short-lived as the Ducati armada swamped him towards the end of the opening lap. While Bagnaia took the initial lead, Jorge Martin, like in the sprint race, quickly made his way through the field from sixth position and was already on the back of the factory Ducati rider. 

He made the first move stick and was looking to dominate the race, but as we entered the second phase of the 30-lap race, Bagnaia began ramping up the pressure and with a little over 10 laps to go, retook the lead. But the battle was still not over as Martin swooped back past Bagnaia with mere centimetres separating them. It nearly came to a head when the two riders banged wheels on the penultimate lap which caused Bagnaia to lose some ground, but the reigning champion recovered all that time to still finish just six hundredths of a second behind Martin. Johann Zarco made it a second consecutive podium in the sister Prima Pramac Racing bike.

Francesco Bagnaia continues to lead the rider’s standings, but Jorge Martin’s win has thrust himself into the title race, now being just 16 points behind. MotoGP next heads to Assen for the Dutch Grand Prix, scheduled to run between June 23-25.

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