Marco Bezzecchi dominates shortened Brazil MotoGP after track issues
Marco Bezzecchi wins his second race of the 2026 MotoGP season
Marco Bezzecchi dominated an Aprilia 1-2 in a shortened MotoGP Brazilian Grand Prix, which was shortened due to track degradation issues.
MotoGP’s return to Brazil for the first time in 22 years has been plagued by issues, with flooding hitting the track earlier in the week, before a sinkhole appeared on the Goiania circuit on Saturday.
Just moments before the 31-lap grand prix was due to begin, race direction suddenly announced a shortened race distance of 23 laps due to “track degradation”.
Despite the chaos, the race got underway as planned at 3pm local time, with Marco Bezzecchi vaulting into the lead from second on the grid.
The Italian quickly opened up a lead of a second after just a few laps and eased to the chequered flag 3.231s clear of the rest.
It marks his second victory of the 2026 season and sees him take the lead in the championship by 11 points.
He led an Aprilia 1-2, with Jorge Martin scoring his first grand prix podium since he was crowned world champion at the 2024 Solidarity Grand Prix.
Fabio Di Giannantonio returned Ducati to the podium after its 88-race streak was snapped in Thailand, and did so after a tense duel with reigning world champion Marc Marquez.
Following a difficult sprint on Saturday, the medium rear tyre provided Bezzecchi with a major pace boost, as he eased into the lead off the line at the start of the 23-lap grand prix.
He headed VR46 Ducati’s Di Giannantonio, with Marquez in third. Di Giannantonio ran wide at Turn 1 on the second lap, letting Marquez through into second briefly.
At the start of lap five, Bezzecchi was over a second clear of Marquez, who ceded second to Martin and Di Giannantonio when he ran wide at Turn 4 on the sixth tour.
Martin quickly put some space between himself and the Ducatis behind, with Marquez launching a raid on Di Giannantonio at Turn 6 on lap 19.
But a mistake for Marquez at Turn 11 next time around saw him drop behind Di Giannantonio, who resisted pressure across the final laps to claim third.
Ai Ogura completed the top five on the Trackhouse Aprilia, while Alex Marquez was sixth on the Gresini Ducati.
Pedro Acosta’s soft tyre gamble didn’t pay off, as he finished seventh on the leading KTM ahead of the returning Fermin Aldeguer on the sister Gresini Ducati.
Johann Zarco took top Honda honours in ninth for LCR, while Raul Fernandez rounded out the top 10 on the second Trackhouse Aprilia.
Luca Marini was 11th for Honda, as VR46’s Franco Morbidelli, LCR rookie Diogo Moreira, Yamaha’s Alex Rins and Tech3 KTM’s Enea Bastianini took the final points down to 15th.
Joan Mir crashed out on his Honda on lap 11, with Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) doing the same after he slumped to 11th at the start.
Jack Miller (Pramac) and Brad Binder (KTM) also suffered crashes.
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