MotoGP Valencia GP: Marco Bezzecchi heads Raul…

Marco Bezzecchi led Raul Fernandez home in an Aprilia 1-2 at the MotoGP Valencia Grand Prix on Sunday.

The factory rider held off the Trackhouse man for his second win in as many weeks and his third of the season, with Fabio Di Giannantonio netting third place for VR46 Ducati.

With Fernandez having won last month’s Australian Grand Prix, this was Aprilia’s third win in four Sundays, giving champion manufacturer Ducati much to think about heading into the winter.

There was drama even before the race began, as Franco Morbidelli absent-mindedly slammed into Honda wildcard rider Aleix Espargaro as the grid formed up. While Espargaro was able to take the start despite a few pieces of his bike missing after the incident, Morbidelli’s VR46 Ducati was quickly removed from the grid. He would briefly take part in the race with his spare bike, but had hurt his hand in the accident and had to retire.

Polesitter Bezzecchi leaped into the lead when the lights turned green, ahead of sprint winner Alex Marquez aboard the Gresini Ducati. While Bezzecchi proceeded to lead all the way, he had different competition to keep an eye on as different riders were faster at different stages of a race that was tricky in terms of tyre management.

Marquez looked capable of putting pressure on the leader at times during the first 10 laps of the race. But then he began to struggle, while Fernandez pulled the pin on his challenge. Having gained positions early after claiming fifth on the first lap, he grabbed second from Marquez on lap 11 and took up the role of first challenger to Bezzecchi.

Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing, Alex Marquez, Gresini Racing (Photo by: Jose Jordan / AFP via Getty Images)

Despite fitness concerns around Fernandez, who had not even been well enough to race in Portugal seven days earlier following his crash in practice for that event, the Spaniard kept Bezzecchi honest throughout the rest of the 27 laps. He was well within a second going into the last lap, but Bezzecchi ultimately had him covered.

Di Giannantonio and KTM’s Pedro Acosta traded positions a couple of times during the race, during which both also found a way past the fading Marquez. It was Di Giannantonio who had more at the end, however, allowing him to complete the podium.

Fermin Aldeguer also cleared Marquez at the end, giving Gresini a disappointing end to the season with fifth and sixth positions.

Honda owed much to Luca Marini after the Italian delivered exactly the seventh place it needed in order to escape Group D concessions. The Italian rode steadily to finish ahead of Brad Binder (KTM), Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) and Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM).

Francesco Bagnaia’s year came to a fittingly miserable end when Johann Zarco punted him out on the opening lap, while his injured 2024 title nemesis Jorge Martin (Aprilia) retired at mid-distance in order to conserve his fitness for the group test on Tuesday.

MotoGP - Valencia GP results

RACE

All Stats

Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	Retirement	Points
1	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72	Aprilia	27	40'52.458			25
2	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	27	+0.686 40'53.144	0.686		20
3	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	27	+3.765 40'56.223	3.079		16
4	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37	KTM	27	+4.749 40'57.207	0.984		13
5	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54	Ducati	27	+8.048 41'00.506	3.299		11
6	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	27	+8.166 41'00.624	0.118		10
7	L. Marini Honda HRC	10	Honda	27	+12.644 41'05.102	4.478		9
8	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	27	+14.582 41'07.040	1.938		8
9	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43	Yamaha	27	+15.497 41'07.955	0.915		7
10	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23	KTM	27	+17.460 41'09.918	1.963		6
11	M. Oliveira Pramac Racing	88	Yamaha	27	+19.304 41'11.762	1.844		5
12	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	27	+21.286 41'13.744	1.982		4
13	J. Mir Honda HRC	36	Honda	27	+22.079 41'14.537	0.793		3
14	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	27	+23.255 41'15.713	1.176		2
15	N. Bulega Ducati Team	11	Ducati	27	+26.144 41'18.602	2.889		1
16	A. Fernandez Yamaha Factory Racing	7	Yamaha	27	+36.854 41'29.312	10.710
17	S. Chantra Team LCR	35	Honda	27	+39.136 41'31.594	2.282
dnf	A. Espargaro Honda HRC Test Team	41	Honda	25	+2 Laps 38'42.576	2 Laps	Retirement
dnf	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	23	+4 Laps 35'37.245	2 Laps	Retirement
dnf	M. Viñales Tech 3	12	KTM	23	+4 Laps 35'29.081		Retirement
dnf	J. Martin Aprilia Racing Team	1	Aprilia	15	+12 Laps 23'21.562	8 Laps	Retirement
dnf	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79	Aprilia	6	+21 Laps 9'14.913	9 Laps	Retirement
dnf	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21	Ducati	1	+26 Laps 2'32.932	5 Laps	Retirement
dnf	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63	Ducati	0	+27 Laps 26.223	1 Lap	Retirement
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