Marc Marquez makes it seven straight grand prix wins

Factory Ducati MotoGP rider Marc Marquez overcame a difficult first lap to win the Hungarian Grand Prix from pole position.

The Spaniard thus completed a sensational seventh straight ‘double’ win in MotoGP after taking the Saturday sprint.

He stretched his world championship points lead over brother Alex – who only managed two points – to a yawning 175. 

Drama began long before the start of the race as engineers from the Ducati factory team gathered around the VR46 bike of front-row starter Fabio Di Giannantonio. The Italian had felt an issue with his GP25 during the initial sighting laps and attempts were now being made to get to the root of it.

With the team uncertain if the problem had been eliminated, consideration was given to Di Giannantonio swapping to his spare bike and incurring a double long-lap penalty for doing so on the grid. The final decision, however, was to send him on his way for the warm-up lap in the hopes that the trouble had been fixed. If not, there would still be the option to start the race from the pitlane on the spare bike.

Sure enough, the third spot on the grid would remain empty as Di Giannantonio pulled into the pits at the end of the warm-up lap to pick up the spare. Effectively starting from the back of the field, on such a tight track, ended his hopes of challenging for a podium.

All eyes were firmly focused on the first corner following the chaos seen in the Saturday sprint, but the field was cautious this time around. Bezzecchi almost outdragged Marquez to the first corner, with the inside line, but thought the better of a move. That patience paid off when he swept past the factory Ducati on the exit.

Marquez immediately tried to respond, making an unusual error as he aimed for a non-existent gap on the inside of Bezzecchi at Turn 2. Contact was inevitable, but luckily both stayed upright. Bezzecchi retained the lead but Marquez dropped behind Franco Morbidelli’s VR46 Ducati.

Briefly, there was a hint of intrigue. Marc had looked desperate in the opening sequence of corners, as if even he knew that overtaking two rivals to win would be tough on the new Hungarian circuit.

It didn’t take long for that hint to fizzle out. Marquez dispensed with Morbidelli on lap five and immediately reduced Bezzecchi’s one-second lead to nothing. The Spaniard then had a couple of trial runs at passing the Aprilia on lap eight before making a definitive move for the lead on lap 11.

As Marc disappeared into the distance, Bezzecchi had Pedro Acosta’s KTM to worry about. A mistake late on lap 15 made it easy for the young Murcian to grab second place into Turn 1 on the following tour. That settled the top three, each of whom would proceed to the finish with little in the way of company.   

Jorge Martin showed that overtaking was indeed possible at Balaton Park. Using the same medium front tyre Marquez had picked, the Aprilia man put on a passing masterclass to work his way from 16th on the grid to fourth place. It was the best result yet in his latest MotoGP comeback, which began two races ago in the Czech Republic.

Honda’s Luca Marini rounded off a strong weekend for the factory team with fifth place ahead of Morbidelli, who was unable to stick with the pace at the front.

Behind KTM riders Brad Binder and Pol Espargaro came Francesco Bagnaia in ninth, a reasonable result for the second factory Ducati considering he had started 13th.

Sprint race bad boy Fabio Quartararo rounded out the top 10. He had to serve a long-lap penalty for his role in the first-corner collision on Saturday and never featured at the front.

Enea Bastianini crashed out of fourth on the first lap, almost gathering a number of other riders as he slid into the second part of the Turn 12 chicane. This was a lucky escape from a scenario that had been predicted by fellow rider Raul Fernandez on Thursday.

Alex Marquez was only 14th at the end of a tough weekend on which he earned a grid penalty for blocking in practice and then fell early in the grand prix. A mere two points for the Gresini Ducati man will only add to speculation that Marc could clinch the title in two races at Misano.

Hungarian Grand Prix results