A pitch-perfect tango from Bezzecchi sees the Italian head to Austin top of the pile, while big hitters falter in Argentina
Caught your breath yet from a spectacular weekend in Argentina? No, we haven’t quite either. Round 2 at Termas de Rio Hondo lived up to all expectations and more as leaving South America leading the World Championship is MotoGP™’s newest race winner – Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team).
The top four heading to Austin
“I woke up with a strange sensation, I knew I could go fast” were some of the first words from the loveable Italian after his maiden premier class win. Bezzecchi wasn’t just fast. He was operating in a completely different league. From lights out to chequered flag, Bezzecchi was untroubled in tricky wet conditions and heads to Round 3 leading the title race by nine points.
MotoGP™ race recap: Bellissimo Bezzecchi makes history
The sophomore’s P2 in the Tissot Sprint was an early indication of his superior pace in Argentina. Only the utter brilliance of Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) stopped Bezzecchi from picking up a historic Sprint-GP Race double in Termas, which would have replicated what his VR46 Academy stablemate Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) did in Portugal.
Speaking of the reigning World Champion, the highs and lows of the sport were portrayed by Pecco in Argentina. Seven days on from perfectly kickstarting his title defence with a 37-point haul in Portimao, a crash while chasing Bezzecchi in Sunday’s Grand Prix saw the #1 relinquish his title lead to his compatriot. Four points are all Bagnaia leaves Argentina with and although it’s way too early for alarm bells to start ringing, a bounce back from this mistake will be needed in Austin.
Six adrift of Bagnaia is Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) in third place. What is it about Zarco’s late race pace? In Portimao, he carved his way through to P4 in the final couple of laps and in Argentina, he was over a second quicker than Alex…