Marco Betzecchi was excited by Misano’s home fans with his home sprint victory, becoming the first rider other than Marquez, who won the race this season in Saturday’s race, and his first non-Ducati winner in Catalonia since May last year.
It was by Aprilia’s predecessor, Alex Espargaro, who benefited from Francesco Bagnaia, who crashed from the lead on the final lap.
A much earlier mistake by Mark Marquez, another factory’s Ducati rider, handed Betzecchi the advantage on Saturday.
The title leader overtook the home star on 6 laps and 6 and appeared to continue his ninth sprint victory, but pushed too far into the 15th turn, sending Desmocesic to gravel.
Betzecchi then held back Alex Marquez to claim his first sprint victory since Assen 2023.
“I’m happy with the victory,” Betzecchi said of ending Ducati’s Saturday domination. “That means we worked it in a good way this weekend and we can do a good job again tomorrow.”
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Mark Marquez’s move to the lead came in the form of an extraordinary pass in turn 6.
“I wasn’t really expecting that, but I made some mistakes so I knew he was nearby,” explained Betzekki.
“I lost a bit of focus and I wanted Mark to brake and pass me, so I prepared to get backwards quickly on Turn 6, but he passed by.
“So I wasn’t really expecting it. But I was calm and I was there. I don’t know how it could go (if he stays), but it turned out like this.”
Did it seem like Marquez was pushing too hard before his accident?
“It’s hard to say why he fell crash. Of course I was pushing a lot, so I hope he was pushing a lot to pass me too!” Betzekki replied.
“The conditions for the track were different from those in the other sessions. This is why I struggled a little more, so I have to analyze everything and try to understand that.”
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“It’s great to meet Rand.”
Bezzecchi was Lando Norris, the candidate for the F1 title.
“First of all, meeting Rand is great because we sometimes talked to each other. Congratulations.
“At the end, I could have seen him in the box and he’s a very cool guy.”
Betzekki is about to add his second Grand Prix victory after Silverstone to his impressive debut debut Aprilia season.
The Italian also hinted that they could gamble by racing soft rear tires again on Sunday.
“It’s possible with both tires. To be honest, I did very well with the soft ones. But I want to see how the sprint looks like and analyze everything,” he said.
Teammate Jorge Martin finished in 8th and finished 11 seconds later by Betzecchi. Betzecchi came in third in the MotoGP World Championship standings, with Francesco Bagnaia within 28 points.