MotoGP

Marco Bezzecchi wins record-equalling fifth consecutive GP at COTA

Motorsport Technology
7 months ago
3 min read

Marco Bezzecchi won a record-equalling fifth consecutive grand prix as the Aprilia rider stormed to victory at the Circuit of the Americas from Spaniards Jorge Martin and Pedro Acosta.


With victory, Bezzecchi becomes only the third Italian rider ever after Valentino Rossi and Giacomo Agostini to achieve the feat, and the first to win the opening three races since Marc Marquez in 2014.

He has now officially led more consecutive Grand Prix laps than anyone else in the modern era, beating the previous record of 103 held by Jorge Lorenzo in 2015.

“Saturday I made a mistake that I should have avoided, but the team was very close to me. Today it was important to ride a good race,” commented Bezzecchi on the official Aprilia website.

“I’m extremely happy and thrilled. I have been dreaming about doing well on this track that I’ve always liked for a long time, but I had never managed to finish the way I wanted to until now. Riding such a great race was incredible.”

READ CRAIG SCARBOROUGH’S EXCLUSIVE INSIGHT INTO THE APRILIA F-DUCT

Despite all the records, all the dominance, it was not an easy win. And it all almost ended in tears early on, Bezzecchi and Acosta coming together on the exit to Turn 11, a piece of Aprilia lost in the process.

The damage wasn’t bad, however, and with the Italian maestro now in the lead, he had another problem on his hands – Aprilia teammate Martin only a second behind at half distance with Martin, Fabio Diggia and Francesco Bagnaia close behind.

The racing was spectacular, chassis to chassis and dicing for position behind the leader with Martin just able to hold off Acosta with Fabio di Giannantonio fourth from Marc Marquez.

“I am truly happy and extremely grateful to Aprilia,” added Martin. “I gave my all and that makes me very proud. Saturday, I achieved the goal of winning the sprint race and I gave it my all on Sunday as well.

“Marco was incredible: I tried to make up ground behind him, but I was pushing too hard physically and I had to slow down in the last three laps.

“I have always struggled on this track, so to be on the podium here after my absence last year is fantastic.”

It all means that Bezzecchi’s lead at the top of the championship standings is still only five points from Aprilia teammate Martin with Acosta a further four points behind him.

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