Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez outgunned Pedro Acosta and Marco Bezzecchi to claim a commanding victory in the Aragon Grand Prix and strengthen his title challenge.
Starting second on the grid, the Ducati rider passed polesitter Bezzecchi on lap 7 of 23 and then fended off a challenge from KTM rival Acosta to secure his fourth win of the season.
Aprilia’s Bezzecchi had no response to the leading duo, but held on to third place to score valuable points in the championship fight.
At the start of the race, Marquez tried to replicate his sprint pass on polesitter Bezzecchi, sending his Ducati up the inside under braking for Turn 1. But Bezzecchi anticipated the move and took a shallower line into the left-hander, which then allowed him to reclaim the lead into Turn 2.
At the same time, Jorge Martin took advantage of the situation to jump from fifth to second place, but Marquez repassed him with a bold pass at Turn 15, also allowing Acosta to jump the Aprilia.
As Martin slipped to fifth behind Alex Marquez, a clear three-way fight began at the front, with Bezzecchi leading Marc Marquez and Acosta. The Aprilia rider initially managed to pull a lead, before the pair reeled him back in.
On lap 7, Marquez pulled off a brilliant pass on Bezzecchi into Turn 15, with the pair going side-by-side at the back straight as the Aprilia mounted a fightback.
Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing, Marc Marquez, Ducati Team, Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Photo by: Jose Jordan / AFP via Getty Images
Marquez managed to hold the lead into Turn 16, while Acosta managed to outbrake Bezzecchi to leave the Italian in third place.
As Bezzecchi dropped back, Marquez and Acosta began their own battle for the lead of the race, with the reigning champion unable to shake off his 2027 team-mate.
It wasn’t until after the halfway point of the race when Marquez started breaking away, setting a series of fastest laps in the 1m46s bracket to build a one-second buffer on lap 15.
Marquez continued to pull away from Acosta in the closing stages, eventually taking the chequered flag with a comfortable margin of 1.7s.
The result elevates the 33-year-old to second place in the standings, just 19 points behind championship leader Martin.
Acosta hung on to second place to claim his fourth Sunday podium of the season, while Bezzecchi completed the podium positions while nursing his Sachsenring injuries.
Behind the leading trio, Alex Marquez finished in a distant fourth on the Gresini Ducati, with championship leader Martin unable to recover from early-race drama to grab fifth.
Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team, Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images
Fermin Aldeguer made an impressive comeback from injuries to claim sixth for Gresini, beating the VR46 Ducati of Fabio di Giannantonio.
Both Tech3’s Enea Bastianini and KTM rider Brad Binder recovered from a tough qualifying, finishing eighth and 10th respectively. They were separated by LCR’s Diogo Moreira, who was the top Honda rider in ninth.
Jack Miller (Pramac) led Yamaha’s charge in 11th, two spots ahead of factory rider Alex Rins.
The most high-profile retirement from the race was Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez, the British GP winner forced to bring his satellite Aprilia to the garage on lap 7 with a gearbox problem.
Francesco Bagnaia, Franco Morbidelli and Toprak Razgatlioglu joined Fernandez in the list of retirees, all three crashing out of the race on their own.
MotoGP Aragon GP results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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