MotoGP India 2023: Marco Bezzecchi Takes First-Ever Pole At BIC

The first-ever MotoGP qualifying at Buddh International Circuit served as the perfect precursor to the race weekend at the IndianOil Grand Prix of India as Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) flipped the Free Practice (FP) form from Friday to bring home not just a new lap record of 1:43.947 but also smashed the top speed at 346.1 kmph, pipping Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) by just 0.043. While championship leader Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) locks the front row in the title race in a reverse order.

The new venue in the calendar served an extra dash of drama as Silverstone Sprint winner Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP) brought out the yellow flags as his fall at the end of Q1 caused three fractured ribs, putting in doubt his participation in the next Japan GP. Having been second fastest in the session at the time he went down and no one was able to improve, the Gresini rider moved through to take that place up in Q2, behind a second-ever trip to Q2 for Raul Fernandez (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team).

One of the riders whose Q2 ambitions ran afoul of the yellow flags was Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), just as his final practice lap also got scrubbed off on Friday. The South African will be gunning for much more when the lights go out, starting with P13. 

After the banker laps came in, it was Martin on top as the riders returned to the pits. There was still plenty of life left in the Q2 session, however, and Martin and Bezzecchi lit up the timing screens on their first flyers back out of the box. Bezzecchi struck in style with the first-ever 1:43 lap, and the benchmark would prove impossible to overcome, but we do hope some improvements in the sprint laps. Martin managed to get within that tantalising half a tenth, and break into the 1:43s, but he couldn't overhaul his compatriot. 

Bagnaia came out of the pits fired up to move up the order too, after a more muted Friday. He also had Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) glued to his rear wheel, with Joan Mir (Repsol Honda Team) right behind both. Bagnaia grabbed that front row, but the Hondas also made some positive hay. Marc Marquez took fifth but then just got pipped to it, with Mir edging out his eight-time Champion teammate by just 0.015s. 

Behind the Bezzecchi, Martin and Bagnaia front row in reverse Championship order, Friday's fastest was fast once again as Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) heads up Row 2 in fourth. It's Repsol Honda squad goals completing that second row as Mir takes fifth, by far his best qualifying result since his switch to Honda, and the 2020 World Champion pipped teammate Marc Marquez by just 0.015 as the number 93 slots into sixth. 

Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) heads the third row just ahead of Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha  MotoGP), with Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) missing out on one spot higher up by just 0.017. He'll start ninth, another tiny margin just ahead of teammate Aleix Espargaro. Raul Fernandez takes P11, with Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP) moving up to P12 ahead of Binder as the grid behind Alex Marquez moves up a place. 

MotoGP India 2023 Qualifying Results:

After gaining a first full day of experience in the hot and humid conditions – both of which are forecast to continue – riders have asked for race distances to be adjusted. Following their feedback and that of official tyre suppliers, one lap will be taken off the Tissot Sprint, Moto2 and Moto3 races, and the MotoGP Grand Prix race will be shortened by three laps. 

Here are the new distances:

Tissot Sprint: 11 laps

Moto3: 16 laps

Moto2: 18 laps

MotoGP: 21 laps