MotoGP India Results, Grand Prix - Old habits

India hosts its first ever MotoGP race this weekend at the Buddh International Circuit, round 13 of the 2023 season. This page will be updated with MotoGP India results throughout this weekend.

Overview

Grand Prix - Bagnaia falters, Martin suffers, Bezzecchi dominates

Sprint - Martin dominates as Marini collects Bezzecchi

Qualifying - Bezzecchi maintains VR46 dominance with Indian GP pole

Practice - Marini fastest on first ever day of MotoGP in India

Grand Prix

Marco Bezzecchi dominated the Indian Grand Prix on track, but the atmosphere of MotoGP became dominated once again by a critical mistake by Francesco Bagnaia.

Much of the talk on Saturday had been about the start, and about the first turn crash which took Marco Bezzecchi out of contention. It was also about how Bezzecchi’s holeshot device is not of the same spec as that used by Francesco Bagnaia and Jorge Martin, who have a newer version compared to all other Ducati riders. It was this that cost Bezzecchi time and position to Martin and Bagnaia in the start on Saturday, and the same was true of the Grand Prix.

Bezzecchi fell behind Martin, who made the holeshot, and Bagnaia, who then passed Martin when the Spaniard out-braked himself at turn four on the opening lap. Bezzecchi was also able to take advantage of that mistake, before passing Bagnaia - the only one of the leaders to choose the hard-compound front tyre - at the final corner on the opening lap.

While Bagnaia had gone harder than his rivals on front tyre, Martin had gone harder at the rear. The medium-compound rear tyre was expected to be the favoured choice after Saturday, but Martin was the only rider to run it when the Grand Prix eventually rolled around.

By lap four, Bezzecchi was over one second clear of Bagnaia, which upped the intensity and urgency of Martin behind him. A big lunge from Martin got him past Bagnaia, but it also cost him a second to Bezzecchi.

Martin’s mood seemed to light a fire underneath Bagnaia. He was able to hang with the #89, and match his pace even despite a mistake of his own at turn four.

By lap 13, Bezzecchi’s lead was almost five seconds. Martin was appearing to be beginning to struggle with edge grip, which was highlighted by a pass by Bagnaia in the long, cambered right-hander of turns eight and nine. One lap later, though, Bagnaia let it go completely, crashing out at turn five.

Martin had no answer for Bezzecchi, and he had none for Bagnaia either, and yet, by the end of Sunday in India, his deficit - which was once more than 60 points - was reduced to 13.

Bagnaia’s latest critical error meant that Marco Bezzecchi brought his own championship deficit down to 44 points. He dominated the Indian Grand Prix, much as he did the French Grand Prix earlier this year, to take his third premier class Grand Prix victory.

Despite some late problems with the zip on his 60th anniversary Alpinestars leathers, and a last lap battle with Fabio Quartararo, Jorge Martin was able to hang onto second place, ahead of Quartararo, who took a still-remarkable third place (and top Yamaha) and his second GP podium of the season in India.

Joan Mir held fourth place for much of the race, in stark contrast to the form he has shown throughout 2023. But, in the closing stages, he lost out to Brad Binder after a long rear slide in turns eight and nine. Binder, then, took fourth (and top KTM), while Mir took a strong fifth place, by far his best result for Repsol Honda.

Johann Zarco was sixth, ahead of Franco Morbidelli (7th), Maverick Vinales (8th, top Aprilia), Marc Marquez (9th, after crashing out of fourth early on), and Raul Fernandez, who concluded a strong weekend in 10th.

Full MotoGP results from the inaugural Indian Grand Prix are below.

2023 MotoGP India Results | Grand Prix

Sprint

The first MotoGP Sprint in India was dominated by the same rider who dominated the whole weekend in Misano: Jorge Martin; while a first corner incident hampered Marco Bezzecchi’s chances.

Although MotoGP qualifying on Saturday morning in India took place in dry conditions, the Moto3 qualifying session which proceeded it was interrupted by a significant period of rain between Moto3 Q1 and Moto3 Q2. The red flag which resulted lasted for a while, and it was announced during that red flag period that the MotoGP Sprint - which would come after Moto2 Q2 - would be preceded by a ‘wet practice’ session for the MotoGP riders so the circuit could be evaluated by the premier class pilots in a low-stress, untimed session.

However, by the time Moto3 Q2, Moto2 Q1, and Moto2 Q2 had been completed, the Buddh International Circuit was mostly dry. That meant that slick, dry weather tyres were fitted to the bikes of most MotoGP riders midway through the ‘wet’ practice.

After the ‘wet’ practice, the Sprint was delayed by another 15 minutes, because of the unstable track conditions, especially with the wet patches into turn one, which has already gained notoriety this weekend with almost every rider visiting its gravel trap at some point on Friday.

When the Sprint eventually did get underway, over two hours after it was originally scheduled, it did so over 11 laps. This was reduced from the original 12 laps because of the intense heat in New Delhi, which combined with the intense heat from the motorcycles to burn the hands and feet of the riders, and make it hard to breath.

It also got underway with Jorge Martin making the holeshot from second on the grid, and with pole sitter Marco Bezzecchi being taken out of contention by his VR46 teammate, Luca Marini. Bezzecchi continued, but Marini was out on the spot, as were both Pol Espargaro and Stefan Bradl.

Martin’s first lap was electric. He broke Bagnaia immediately, who was more under threat from the two Repsol Hondas - led by Marc Marquez - behind him than he was threatening his title rival ahead.

Brad Binder had also made a strong start. He was fifth after lap one, and had the podium in sight.

However, between lap four, when Joan Mir crashed, and the end of the race, there was no change in the top positions. Martin took a dominant third win in succession, Bagnaia salvaged a second place, over two seconds adrift of his main rival, and Marc Marquez (top Honda) held on from Brad Binder (top KTM) for the final podium position. Binder secured fourth, while Marco Bezzecchi’s recovery included numerous fastest laps, and brought him from the back of the field up to sixth place, ahead of Fabio Quartararo (6th, top Yamaha), Jack Miller (7th), Maverick Vinales (8th, top Aprilia), Raul Fernandez (9th), and Fabio Di Giannantonio (10th), who completed the top 10.

Alex Marquez did not start the Sprint. He was taken to hospital after his Q2 crash, where it was first confirmed he had two broken ribs, before it was later confirmed he had three broken ribs. Although he was able to return to the circuit before the Sprint, Marquez was declared unfit. He will not start the Grand Prix on Sunday, and his participation at next weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix is now in doubt. Marquez said to the MotoGP world feed pit lane reporter, Simon Crafar, that he is “90 per cent” sure that he will miss Japan.

Full MotoGP results from the Sprint in India are below.

2023 MotoGP India Results | Sprint

Qualifying

The first ever qualifying session for MotoGP in India was set to be a crucial one. The state of the circuit means that there is grip on the line, but not off it, and so minimising the amount of overtakes you need to make in the races by qualifying well was of increased importance. In this high-intensity scenario, no one performed better than Marco Bezzecchi, who took pole position.

Q1, of course, preceded the Q2 shootout. It was topped by Raul Fernandez, with Alex Marquez following him through to Q2 in second place. Brad Binder had been one of the favourites to advance, having had the speed to do so in Friday’s afternoon Practice session, only to be denied by yellow flags.

A crash for Alex Marquez at the end of Q2, though, meant the same thing would thwart Binder, whose final lap time was cancelled for those yellow flags brought out by Marquez at turn five, and who therefore qualified down in 14th. For Marquez, the situation was no better, as he suffered wrist and hand injuries, the details of which are not yet confirmed.

Q2 began with Jorge Martin as the fastest rider. After dominating Misano in the way he did, it had been a surprise to see him not top a session on Friday, but he started qualifying in the best way.

It was Marco Bezzecchi, though, who set the first 1:43 lap time of the weekend, with a 1:43.947. Although Martin was able to join Bezzecchi in the 1:43s, he was unable to do better than a 1:43.990, meaning Bezzecchi clinched the first ever MotoGP pole position at the Buddh International Circuit.

With Martin in second place, Francesco Bagnaia’s third-fastest time confirmed an all-Ducati front row.

Luca Marini made it an all-Ducati top four, while the two Repsol Hondas sprung two positive surprises. The first was that both factory RC213Vs were on the second row, and the second was that Joan Mir was the fastest of the two. Considering the struggles of both HRC and Mir in 2023, a 5-6 is a result which is - arguably unfortunately - impossible to ignore.

The other Japanese manufacturer, Yamaha, also had a relatively promising qualifying in the context of their season, with Fabio Quartararo taking eighth place. Again, not necessarily where he wants to be, but better than where he often has been. Quartararo will have Johann Zarco (7th) ahead of him, and Maverick Vinales (9th) behind him on row three.

Aleix Espargaro (10th) and Raul Fernandez (11th) ensured that all three Aprilias in Q2 were the slowest bikes of all in the session. Alex Marquez did not participate in Q2 following his Q1 crash.

Full MotoGP results from qualifying in India are below.

2023 MotoGP India Results | Qualifying

Practice

Full MotoGP results from Practice in India are below.

2023 MotoGP India Results | Practice