‘One regret’ but Bezzecchi keeps world championship lead

The 2022 Rookie of the Year moved to the head of the points table with a debut victory in Argentina.

After a sixth place for Bezzecchi in the COTA Sprint, Saturday winner Francesco Bagnaia needed only a single point to retake the title advantage on Sunday.

But that scenario disappeared in a cloud of gravel dust when the reigning champion fell from the race lead, while Bezzecchi shadowed his team-mate Luca Marini to reach fourth in the middle stages.

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But while Marini went on to claim second place and a debut MotoGP podium, Bezzecchi had taken too much out of his front tyre and slipped back to sixth. It was his ‘only regret’.

“I’m happy of course to lead the championship, it's a big satisfaction, but it's still nothing. It's very early,” said Bezzecchi, who will take an eleven-point advantage over Bagnaia into round four at Jerez next weekend.

“So in the end, I'm happier for the weekend overall, because Friday I had a lot of problems. Saturday I managed to make a decent race, and today it was so easy to make a mistake, so I'm happy also about my pace.

“Unfortunately I think I pushed a little bit too early, I made a 2'03.5 nine or ten laps to the end, and in that lap I really finished the front tyre. So then the last 7 laps were really, really difficult for me. I lost places from Maverick and Miguel. This is perhaps the only regret. But apart from this I'm really happy.”

As well as Bezzecchi being on top of the riders’ standings, VR46 is now also leading the teams’ world championship.

“Congratulations to Luca, he deserves it, and to the whole team. This group is doing something amazing,” Bezzecchi said.

Bezzecchi and Sunday’s top Ducati rider Marini are both using last year’s 2022 spec Desmosedicis.