GREATER NOIDA: Pole-starter Marco Bezzecchi won India’s inaugural MotoGP in a near-flawless race on Sunday, but world champion Francesco Bagnaia crashed out after slipping on a turn.
Jorge Martin, who won Saturday’s sprint race, just held on for second spot with Fabio Quartararo a close third at the Buddh International Circuit.
Italy’s Bezzecchi, on a Ducati-VR46, won his third race of the season in 36 minutes, 59.157 seconds.
But it was heartbreak for Bagnaia, who lost control of his Ducati and the bike went for a somersault.
The Italian still leads the world championship with 292 points but saw his lead cut in the 13th race. Martin is on 279 points followed by Bezzecchi on 248.
Spain’s Martin, Bagnaia’s nearest challenger in the title tussle, was given a scare by Quartararo in a dramatic last lap that had the number two and three fighting hard.
Martin had a strong start to the race, jumping into the lead from his second position on the grid, with Bagnaia second and Bezzecchi third.
Bezzecchi soon went past Bagnaia with a clean overtake at a corner and kept up the pace to increase the gap to more than three seconds in the first five laps.
Martin edged out Bagnaia as the competition for second and third spot remained tight. Bagnaia found space on lap 13 and squeezed past Martin, before his race met a premature and painful end.
But by then the race belonged to Bezzecchi, who came in as one of the favourites after he scorched the track in qualifying.
