Marco Bezzecchi catching Bagnaia, but “not my main target”

Marco Bezzecchi cut Francesco Bagnaia’s advantage for third in the MotoGP World Championship to 31 points after another podium finish in Hungary.

The Aprilia rider, who won at Silverstone, has now stood on the rostrum at least once (Sprint and/or GP) during the last five rounds.

At Balaton Park, Bezzecchi led the opening ten laps before settling for third behind Marc Marquez and Pedro Acosta, while Bagnaia could only manage ninth.

That result meant Bezzecchi has outscored his close friend by 36 points in the past three events.

The reduced 31-point margin between them is also under the 37-point maximum available at each race weekend during the remaining eight rounds, putting Bagnaia firmly within reach.

However, Bezzecchi, who finished third in the world championship as a VR46 Ducati rider in 2023, insists it’s not his main goal.

“After every race weekend you go home and look how is the situation. But at the moment it’s not my main target," Bezzecchi said at Balaton Park.

“Of course, if I can achieve third place, for sure it’s better.

“But what I’m focused on is to continue in this way, try to improve the bike and build a solid base for next season. 

"These two are my main targets.”

Although Acosta has risen to fifth in the standings, the KTM rider only outscored Bezzecchi by a single point in Hungary and still has a 33-point gap to bridge to the RS-GP rider.

Bagnaia, meanwhile, is 52 points behind Alex Marquez in second, while Marc Marquez leads the championship by a massive 175 points.