Bezzecchi after Martin's injury: “It's not over yet—this championship is crazy”

Jorge Martin forced to withdraw with a fracture, Marc Marquez now leading by ten points: the MotoGP World Championship may have taken a new turn at Phillip Island.

Marco Bezzecchi, third in the overall standings and now under the spotlight, is urging everyone not to take anything for granted. The Aprilia rider believes the title race is still wide open, even after a bitter Saturday for the Noale-based team. The problem is the 50 points separating him from Marc Marquez. There are five Grands Prix and four Sprints remaining, with 173 points still up for grabs. So Bez is right: the title fight is certainly not over.

The Australian Grand Prix is not going the way Aprilia had hoped. The team expected to dominate at this track with all four of its riders, as they had done in Friday’s practice sessions. The first disappointment came in qualifying, with all the RS-GPs missing out on the front row. Bezzecchi ended up as low as ninth, his worst grid position since the Catalan Grand Prix in May.

A poor start in the Sprint dropped him to 12th. That was when his comeback began: while Martin crashed and Raul Fernandez retired, the rider from Rimini overtook his rivals one by one, including fellow Aprilia rider Ai Ogura, until he had worked his way back into the leading group. He ran out of laps to join the fight for the podium and finished fourth.

"I gave it everything in the Sprint, but I’m not happy with qualifying. I’m disappointed because I was fairly competitive in both the wet and the dry, but I couldn’t find speed in qualifying in mixed conditions, and that put me at a bit of a disadvantage," Bezzecchi explained. "In the Sprint, though, I made a good comeback and really enjoyed myself. Of course, winning is even better, but given where I started, I did the best I could."

Reflecting on the closing stages, he added: "When I caught Diggia, I closed in a little, but he responded really well over the last two laps, and there was no way to attempt a pass. I’m happy with how we managed things this afternoon. We now have data to analyse for all conditions, so we’ll need to understand it properly and be ready for anything at the Grand Prix"

The key moment on Saturday was Jorge Martin’s withdrawal after suffering a fractured radius and a possible additional forearm fracture in a crash during the race. Marc Marquez took advantage to move into the championship lead with a ten-point advantage, which could grow as soon as Sunday.

Bezzecchi, who only watched the footage after the race, is not ready to write anyone off: "I watched the video. During the race, I hadn’t realised it was him because I was a bit far away. I noticed when I got closer to the leading group and saw he was no longer there. I feel sorry for him, the team and Aprilia, because he was doing an excellent job. Of course, it’s not over yet. This championship is crazy, as we’ve seen. I hope I get to see him, and I wish him a speedy recovery".

Repeating his fourth-place finish in the feature race will not be easy: rain is forecast for Sunday, and it could turn the form book at Phillip Island on its head. Bezzecchi heads into the race convinced that, in such an unpredictable championship, the title fight is far from over. In qualifying, however, Marc Marquez had left everyone else miles behind.

-> Follow us on Instagram too: @Corsedimoto