72 hours later: Bezzecchi's Termas love affair continues

There’s something between Termas de Rio Hondo and Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) that just works. It was a magical weekend for the Italian in Argentina as he claimed his maiden MotoGP™ win, five years on from earning his first Moto3™ win at the very same venue.

4.6s was Bezzecchi’s Moto3™ Termas victory in 2018 when he beat Aron Canet (Pons Wegow Los40) and fellow premier class star Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) in comfortable fashion. This year, Bezzecchi’s victory over Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) was 4.0s at a rain-soaked Termas. In reality it was much more convincing than that four-second gap. No one got close to the #72 in the tricky conditions as Bezzecchi led from Turn 1 to the chequered flag without trouble.

72 hours earlier, Bezzecchi joined Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) and Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) in the pre-event Press Conference. Alongside MotoGP™ race winners, Bezzecchi revealed his next target – after claiming his second premier class rostrum in Portimao – was to win a race. Fast forward to Sunday afternoon, and that’s exactly what the #72 was. A MotoGP™ race winner.

Not only that, Bezzecchi is now a MotoGP™ World Championship leader. His lead over close friend Bagnaia? Nine points. 7+2=9, so it seems there’s something about the #72 that was written in the stars this weekend.

But even in Portimao, Bezzecchi was strong. A crash in the Tissot Sprint has been the sophomore’s only mistake so far in 2023, because he’s finished P3, P2, and then P1 since. Another lap in the Argentina Sprint and he may have beaten the mesmerisingly brilliant Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). Bezzecchi managed to go one better in the Grand Prix race though, taking all 25 points with a runaway win.

In the last couple of seasons, there’s been something about Italians winning MotoGP™ races on Independent Team Ducatis. Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) announced himself as a title contender in 2022 by winning the Qatar, Americas and French GPs early in the campaign. Two Grand Prix podiums and one Sprint podium in the first two rounds see Bezzecchi sit on top of the world at this early stage of the title race. Bastianini couldn’t quite fend off Bagnaia and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) in 2022, but he did a mighty fine job running them close. Who’s to say Bezzecchi can’t do the same in 2023 with this year’s title contender crop?

There’s no denying the frizzy-haired, charismatic Italian has the package underneath him to win races. He has the team around him to win races. He has the VR46 Academy to train with, and he has nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi beside him to lend a helping hand. The hard work is coming to fruition, and there’s no doubting Bezzecchi is the real deal. Now it’s about building on his second Termas victory success in the coming races.

Next up: Austin. A year-old Ducati won the race in the hands of an Italian sophomore there in 2022…