Austin, March 30: Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi has reclaimed the lead in the 2026 MotoGP standings with a commanding victory at the United States Grand Prix. The 27-year-old made an impressive start from fourth on the grid, overtaking early leader Pedro Acosta on the opening lap to secure his fifth consecutive grand prix win.
Jorge Martin, who started seventh, completed a 1-2 finish for Aprilia, adding to his podium from Saturday’s sprint win, while Acosta finished a solid third for KTM.
At the race’s start, Acosta got the holeshot from second on the grid, with Bezzecchi and Martin slotting into second and third as polesitter Fabio di Giannantonio dropped to fourth. Bezzecchi quickly applied pressure on Acosta, taking a tight line into Turn 11. There was drama when he made contact with Acosta at the corner’s exit, nearly causing a crash.
Both riders managed to stay upright, with Bezzecchi taking the lead from Acosta, while Martin remained close in third. For the next phase of the race, the trio ran closely together, with Acosta keeping Bezzecchi honest despite the performance gap of the KTM bike.
However, on lap 6 of 20, Bezzecchi accelerated, pulling out an eight-tenths lead before extending it to over a second. Martin initially kept pace with the leaders but fell back to fourth when he faced a scare entering Turn 1 on lap 7.
The 2024 champion gradually recovered and moved into second when Acosta ran wide at the same corner on lap 14. Towards the race’s end, Martin briefly looked like a contender for victory, closing Bezzecchi’s lead to under a second. However, Bezzecchi responded, finishing with a winning margin of two seconds.
With this victory, Bezzecchi joined an elite group of riders to win five races consecutively, becoming the first in the modern era to lead every lap. Martin maintained his strong form to secure second place, while Acosta was the only rider to challenge Aprilia, finishing third.
Trackhouse’s Ai Ogura was in contention for a podium when a technical issue struck his satellite Aprilia with five laps remaining, promoting di Giannantonio to fourth. Further back, Marc Marquez resisted a late challenge from Tech3’s Enea Bastianini to finish fifth.
The seven-time world champion spent the early race battling di Giannantonio and Joan Mir before dropping to 11th after serving a long-lap penalty for colliding with di Giannantonio in the sprint. He fought back, passing Bagnaia with three laps to go to salvage important championship points.
Bastianini rounded off a strong weekend in sixth, followed by Gresini’s Alex Marquez. Luca Marini finished as the top Honda in ninth, overtaking a struggling Bagnaia on the final lap. Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer was classified 11th, with KTM’s Brad Binder, LCR Honda’s Diogo Moreira, and VR46’s Franco Morbidelli finishing 12th, 13th, and 14th, respectively.
Pramac’s Toprak Razgatlioglu scored his first MotoGP point with a strong charge to 15th, leading his Yamaha teammates Fabio Quartararo, Jack Miller, and two-time Austin winner Alex Rins.
Arpit Soni has had a passion for journalism since the beginning. Now he has turned this hobby into his profession. Arpit, who is a resident of Udaipur, enjoys editing and writing news related to journalism. He has worked as a Senior Content Producer in several important roles at Bhaskar, Patrika, Pratahkal, Punjab Kesari, and Times. Arpit completed his schooling in Udaipur and Jaipur. He has been working in the media industry for more than 10 years, and his journey is still continuing. ✍️📚
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