Marc Marquez denied MotoGP title in Qatar as Marco Bezzecchi wins race
Marc Marquez will have to wait until Portugal to win the world championship
Marc Marquez could not win an eighth MotoGP title at the Qatar Grand Prix, as Marco Bezzecchi led him home and Jorge Martin was seventh to force the fight to Portugal.
Reigning champion Marquez needed to win the Qatar Grand Prix and hope Martin didn’t score a point to be seal the title.
But the Ducati rider could do no better than second, as Bezzecchi dominated Sunday’s 22-lap race at Lusail to win by over three seconds.
Martin finished seventh on the sister factory Aprilia to keep Marquez from growing his championship lead to more than 60 points with two rounds to go.
Bezzecchi grabbed the holeshot from pole position ahead of Marquez, following the pair’s controversial collision in Saturday’s sprint.
Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez then seized second from Marquez at Turn 2 on the opening lap, with the leading duo quickly pulling away from the Ducati rider.
At the start of lap two, Marquez had already dropped a second from the lead, before KTM’s Pedro Acosta came through on the Spaniard for third at Turn 15 on lap three.
But Marquez would move back into second at the start of lap six, as tyre pressure issues forced Acosta to drop behind the Ducati.
Bezzecchi’s lead was up to a second at the beginning of the eighth tour, as the injured Fernandez’s pace began to drop away.
Marquez was able to break away from Acosta behind him and close the Trackhouse rider down.
He eased ahead of Fernandez on the run across the start/finish line with three laps to go to move back into second.
But he would have no answer for Bezzecchi’s pace, as the Italian secured his sixth grand prix victory of the season by 3.083s.
Bezzecchi is 74 points behind Marquez, keeping him in the title hunt for another round at least.
Fernandez was third at the chequered flag, 0.531s behind Marquez, while Ai Ogura was fourth on the sister Trackhouse Aprilia.
Enea Bastianini looked to be let through into fifth by KTM stablemate Acosta in the closing stages, as his tyre pressure issues persisted.
Martin was 14.023s from the lead in seventh, but still has a chance to win the championship over the final two races.
Fabio Di Giannantonio was eighth on the VR46 Ducati, while LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco and Gresini’s Iker Lecuona rounded out the top 10.
Franco Morbidelli (VR46), Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini), Maverick Vinales (Tech3) and Jake Dixon (Honda) were the final finishers, as KTM’s Brad Binder and LCR’s Diogo Moreira retired with separate issues.
