This weekend, at the Buddh International Circuit, India hosts its first-ever MotoGP event, round 13 of the 2023 season. The results of the 2023 Motogp Grand Prix India Results are updated below.
2023 Motogp Grand Prix India Results – Details
Grand Prix
While Marco Bezzecchi won the Indian Grand Prix on the track, the event was overshadowed by Francesco Bagnaia’s fatal blunder.
On Saturday, everyone talked about the accident on the first turn that put Marco Bezzecchi out of the race. Also discussed was that unlike Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin, no other Ducati riders utilize the same kind of holes hot gadget as Bezzecchi. This mistake allowed Martin and Bagnaia to get ahead of Bezzecchi at the start of Saturday’s Grand Prix.
Bezzecchi ended up third behind holes hot winner Martin and second-placed Bagnaia, who got by Martin in the first lap when the Spaniard out-braked himself at turn four. Bezzecchi took advantage of that error as well, and on the penultimate turn of the first lap, he passed Bagnaia, the only leader to use the more complex compound front tire.
Martin had pushed the back tires harder than anybody else, while Bagnaia had made the front tires to their limits. After Saturday’s practice, the medium-compound rear tire was widely predicted to be the best option, but only Martin opted to use it in the Grand Prix.
Bezzecchi pulled away from Bagnaia by more than a second on lap 4, increasing the pressure and urgency from Martin in second. Martin passed Bagnaia thanks to a daring surge, but he lost time to Bezzecchi.
Bagnaia’s spirit appeared to be stoked by Martin’s disposition. His error at turn four didn’t prevent him from keeping up with the #89 and matching his speed.
Bezzecchi had nearly a five-second lead by lap 13. Bagnaia passed Martin on the lengthy, cambered right-hander between turns eight and nine, highlighting Martin’s apparent issue with edge grip. Bagnaia, though, totally lost control on the next lap and crashed at turn five.
Martin couldn’t catch up with Bezzecchi or Bagnaia, but he cut his gap from more than 60 points to only 13 by the conclusion of Sunday in India.
As a result of Bagnaia’s most recent miscue, Marco Bezzecchi has closed the gap behind Bagnaia in the title race to only 44 points. He won his third Grand Prix in the top class by dominating the Indian Grand Prix, as he had earlier this year at the French Grand Prix.
Jorge Martin finished in second place, ahead of Fabio Quartararo, who finished in third place (and top Yamaha) and earned his second GP podium of the season in India despite having trouble with the zip on his 60th anniversary Alpine stars leathers in the final lap of the race.
In sharp contrast to his form throughout 2023, Joan Mir spent much of the race in fourth position. However, a lengthy rear slip in circuits eight and nine cost him the race to Brad Binder in the final laps. Thus, Binder finished fourth position (and as the best KTM rider) and Mir in fifth, his highest finish with Repsol Honda.
Sixth place Johann Zarco led the way for the rest of the top ten finishers: seventh place Franco Morbidelli, eighth place Maverick Vinales (best Aprilia), ninth place Marc Marquez (after falling from fourth place early on), and tenth place Raul Fernandez (after an intense weekend).
Full MotoGP results from the inaugural Indian Grand Prix are below.
2023 Motogp Grand Prix India Results
Sprint
The inaugural MotoGP Sprint in India was won by the same rider, Jorge Martin, who won the whole weekend at Misano, while Marco Bezzecchi’s hopes were hurt by an accident in the first turn.
Saturday morning’s MotoGP qualifying in India was held in dry circumstances, while the preceding Moto3 qualifying session was halted for a long time due to heavy rain between Moto3 Q1 and Moto3 Q2. The resulting red flag period was lengthy, and it was announced that to allow the premier class pilots to assess the circuit in a low-stress, untimed session before the MotoGP Sprint (which would follow the Moto2 Q2 session), a “wet practice” session for the MotoGP riders would be held.
The Buddh International Circuit was wet during Moto3 Q1, Moto2 Q2, and Moto2 Q3, although it had dried up significantly by Q2. As a result, most MotoGP riders switched to dry-weather tires halfway through the ‘wet’ practice.
Wet patches entering turn one, already infamous this weekend as almost every rider went down in its gravel trap on Friday, contributed to the 15-minute delay of the Sprint after the ‘wet’ practice.
After a delay of more than two hours, the Sprint finally began, lasting 11 laps. The extreme heat in New Delhi, coupled with the intense heat from the motorbikes, caused the initial 12 circuits to be shortened. The riders’ hands and feet were being burned, and it was difficult for them to catch their breath.
It started with pole sitter Marco Bezzecchi eliminated by his VR46 teammate Luca Marini, with second-placed Jorge Martin taking the lead. Marini, Pol Espargaro, and Stefan Bradl were tossed immediately, but Bezzecchi kept going.
Martin’s first lap was an exciting one. He made quick work of Bagnaia, who was more vulnerable to the two Repsol Hondas behind him (headed by Marc Marquez) than his championship opponent up front.
Brad Binder had likewise gotten off to a promising beginning. He finished the first lap in fifth place, with the podium in sight.
After Joan Mir’s collision on lap 4, however, the top places remained unchanged until the race’s conclusion. Martin won for the third time in a row, dominating the field by more than two seconds. Bagnaia recovered to finish second, but he was still over two seconds behind his primary competitor. Fourth went to Binder, while Marco Bezzecchi came from way back to finish sixth thanks to a strong run that included several fastest laps. He finished ahead of Fabio Quartararo (who finished as the best Yamaha rider), Jack Miller (who finished seventh), Maverick Vinales (who finished as the best Aprilia rider), Raul Fernandez (who finished ninth), and Fabio Di Giannantonio (who finished tenth).
Alex Marquez did not begin the Sprint. After his collision in Q2, he was brought to the hospital, where doctors first said he had fractured two ribs but subsequently said he had broken three. Marquez was deemed unfit even though he returned to the track before the Sprint. He will not begin Sunday’s race, and it is now ambiguous if he will compete in the Japanese Grand Prix the following weekend. Marquez told Simon Crafar, a writer for the MotoGP global feed pit lane, that he is “90 percent” certain that he will miss Japan.
Full MotoGP results from the Sprint in India are below.
2023 Motogp Grand Prix India Results – Sprint
Qualifying
The first MotoGP qualifying race in India would be an important one. There is grip on the line, but not of it; therefore, qualifying well was more crucial than usual to reduce the number of overtakes required throughout the races. Marco Bezzecchi was the only one who could keep up with the pressure of this situation, and he won first place.
Of course, Q1 came before the last round in Q2. Raul Fernandez came up on top, while Alex Marquez qualified for the second round as the runner-up. One of the favorites to go on, Brad Binder, was unable to progress due to yellow flags despite having the speed to do so in the afternoon Practice session on Friday.
Due to the yellow flags brought out by Alex Marquez’s collision at turn five after Q2, Binder’s last lap time was disregarded, and he qualified in 14th place. The situation for Marquez was no better; he sustained wrist and hand injuries, which were not established.
When Qualifying Round 2 started, Jorge Martin was the quickest rider. It was surprising that he didn’t win a practice session on Friday after his performance in Misano, but he got off to a great start in qualifying.
However, Marco Bezzecchi was the first driver of the weekend to break 1:43 with a 1:43.947. Martin joined Bezzecchi in the 1:43s, but he could only manage a 1:43.990. Therefore, Bezzecchi took the pole position for the inaugural MotoGP race at the Buddh International Circuit.
Francesco Bagnaia’s third-fastest time and Martin’s second-place finish made the front row of the race an all-Ducati affair.
Luca Marini’s fourth-place finish made it an all-Ducati podium, and the two Repsol Hondas surprised in a good way. One, Joan Mir was the quickest of the two factory RC213Vs, and two, they were both in the second row. With HRC and Mir having such a rough time in 2023, a 5-6 score is a regrettable but unavoidable outcome.
Yamaha, the second Japanese manufacturer, also had a positive qualifying for the season thus far, with Fabio Quartararo finishing eighth. Once again, it was not exactly where he hoped to be, but it improved over recent history. On the third row, ahead of Quartararo, will be Johann Zarco, and behind him will be Maverick Vinales.
All three Aprilias in Q2 were the session’s slowest motorcycles, thanks to the efforts of Aleix Espargaro (10th) and Raul Fernandez (11th). After his collision in Q1, Alex Marquez decided to skip Q2.
Full MotoGP results from qualifying in India are below.
2023 Motogp Grand Prix India Results – Qualifying
2023 Motogp Grand Prix India Results – Practice
Full MotoGP results from Practice in India are below.
2023 Motogp Grand Prix India Results – Practice
