Marco Bezzecchi dominated a wet Argentina Grand Prix to secure a first ever MotoGP win, while Francesco Bagnaia crashed out in the latter stages while running second.
Bezzecchi made a clean start to move clear of pole-sitter Alex Marquez into Turn 1, the VR46 Ducati ace immediately beginning to edge clear of the Spaniard to sit nearly two seconds clear after just half-a-dozen laps.
His advantage grew even larger as Bagnaia battled to snatch away second from Marquez, with the Italian a commanding 5.5 seconds clear of the field by the time the reigning MotoGP world champion secured the runners-up spot just past the halfway mark.
He remained solid out in front though as he maintained his gap, which increased once again as Bagnaia dropped his Desmosedici at Turn 15 just a few tours later, leaving him well out of the points by the time he re-joined the fray.
Bezzecchi then eased his way to the chequered flag across the remaining circulations, finally claiming a debut premier class success by four seconds for he and Valentino Rossi’s VR46 team – securing him the points lead in the process.
The battle for the remaining podium spots hotted up in the closing laps as a charging Johann Zarco closed on the battle for second between Marquez and Yamaha rider Franco Morbidelli, who once again was showing strong pace having struggled over the past 18 months.
Zarco first dumped Morbidelli from the rostrum with only a few laps left before then turning his attentions to Marquez, the Pramac pilot ripping away second at Turn 5 thanks to a bold move on the very final tour to secure the result, Marquez scoring his first podium for Gresini Ducati in third.
Morbidelli completed an encouraging weekend in fourth ahead of Jorge Martin, while KTM’s Jack Miller managed to narrowly hold off a recovering Fabio Quartararo for sixth.
The 2021 MotoGP world champion was pushed off wide by Takaaki Nakagami on the opening lap, dropping him all the way to 16th and thus forcing him to stage a recovery through the field.
Quartararo was one of the fastest men on track in the closing laps and managed to scythe his way through to seventh with only a handful of laps to go, but just ran out of time to steal away Miller’s sixth position.
Luca Marini was eighth on the sister VR46 entry ahead of LCR Honda’s Alex Rins, with Fabio di Gianantonio ending up tenth having run as high as fifth in the early part of the contest.
The factory Aprilia outfit’s strong Friday ultimately failed to translate into wet weather speed as both its riders failed to breach the top ten, Maverick Vinales coming home 12th behind GasGas rookie Augusto Fernandez while Aleix Espargaro was a disastrous 15th on the other machine – the last rider not to hit trouble.
Bagnaia ended up narrowly holding off Brad Binder for 16th, the KTM rider failing to replicate his Saturday sprint masterclass after crashing at Turn 5 on the opening lap due to a slight touch from Vinales after the Spaniard slid through on the inside.
Keyword: Bezzecchi clinches dominant maiden win in wet Argentina as Bagnaia crashes