Bezzecchi ‘still there’ in title battle - ‘keep working, keep fighting’

Having slipped 54 points from the world championship lead after Sunday’s Japanese MotoGP, Marco Bezzecchi is in danger of losing touch with the 2023 title fight.

Peter McLaren

03 Oct 2023

Marco Bezzecchi, MotoGP race, Japanese MotoGP, 1 October

But the VR46 Ducati star will ‘keep working and keep fighting’ to get back on terms with Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin.

Bezzecchi is the only rider to have beaten man-of-the-moment Martin in the last six races (three rounds) courtesy of his runaway victory in the Indian Grand Prix.

However, the young Italian finished behind both title leader Bagnaia and Martin in both Motegi races, with fourth place in the Sprint followed by sixth in the storm-shortened Sunday grand prix.

“I’m not looking at the championship much,” Bezzecchi told MotoGP.com

“Of course, I wanted to be closer to the other guys, but first of all in the race. Try to fight with them [for race victories] and then the championship is more a consequence of that.

“But we are still there, so we’ll keep working and we keep fighting.”

Martin is now just three points from Bagnaia with six rounds and a potential 222 points still up for grabs.