Agencies
Marco Bezzecchi beat championship leader and fellow Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia into second place at the Dutch GP, with Fabio Quartararo taking a surprise podium for Yamaha.
Though Bezzecchi briefly lost the lead from pole position, the man who had dominated the entire weekend was soon back past Bagnaia. And the reigning world champion, who had started second, had no answer.
The result consolidates Bezzecchi’s hold on third in the standings, with Bagnaia still leading Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin.
Bagnaia’s advantage has been stretched to 21 points following the sprint race, with Martin only able to finish sixth.
All the frontrunners opted for a combination of hard front tyre and soft rear. And when the lights turned green, Bezzecchi lost out not only to Bagnaia at the first corner, but also to the opportunistic, fast-starting Brad Binder.
But it was only a lap later that the Italian was past the KTM rider, and Bezzecchi was then free to go after his countryman and Ducati rival Bagnaia. He promptly set the fastest lap of the race on lap three.
The battle had barely got going before it was over. Bagnaia ran wide on the fourth lap and almost lost the lead into Turn 5. He held on, but Bezzecchi simply blast past him on the exit.
Though the lead remained a narrow one for the rest of the race, and hovered mostly just beneath the one-second mark, Bezzecchi was able to control it from there to the flag.
Bagnaia was eventually able to shake off the likes of Binder, Quartararo and Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, though his margin to the chasers was hardly comfortable either.
The scrap between Binder, Quartaro and Espargaro never really ignited in the last lap, and the trio crossed the line in that order.
Binder would soon be disappointed, however. He was issued a three-second penalty for exceeding track limits, promoting Quartararo to a podium position that gave some much-needed joy to the Yamaha camp.
It also meant fourth place for Espargaro, with Binder classified fifth following the penalty. (motorsport.com)1. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA/Ducati-VR46) 20 min 09.174sec, 2. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Ducati) at 1.294sec, 3. Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha) 1.872, 4. Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aprilia) 2.245, 5. Brad Binder (RSA/KTM) 4.582, 6. Jorge Martin (ESP/Ducati-Pramac) 5.036, 7. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Aprilia) 5.876, 8. Luca Marini (ITA/Ducati-VR46) 10.056, 9. Enea Bastianini (ITA/Ducati-Lenovo) 10.102, 10. Alex Marquez (ESP/Ducati-Gresini) 10.525
World championship standings
1. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA/Ducati) 169 pts, 2. Jorge Martin (ESP/Ducati-Pramac) 148, 3. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA/Ducati-VR46) 138, 4. Johann Zarco (FRA/Ducati-Pramac) 109, 5. Brad Binder (RSA/KTM) 101, 6. Luca Marini (ITA/Ducati-VR46) 89, 7. Jack Miller (AUS/KTM) 79, 8. Fabio Quartararo (FRA/Yamaha) 64, 9. Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aprilia) 61, 10. Maverick Vinales (ESP/Aprilia) 56.
