Amid the chaos in Barcelona, among scares, bikes exploding into a thousand pieces, fear, ambulances, red flags, restarts, and various penalties, Marco Bezzecchi and his Aprilia quietly sailed to the fourth position. In reality, the #72 crossed the finish line in sixth place, but the penalty given to Ogura for the clash with Acosta, and that assigned to Joan Mir for tyre pressure, with a bit of luck, lifted him up to the edge of the podium.
In a weekend where there’s only room for a heartfelt “thank you” to the higher powers, Bezzecchi increased his advantage over Jorge Martin from one to 15 points, who also went down due to a bold move by Raul Fernandez during the “third” race.
"It wasn’t a great day today. I still don't know everyone's overall condition, so I hope they're all well - said the Romagna native - Especially Alex, because he was involved in the biggest crash, but also Johann in the restart. If everything is really okay, we were lucky today. Because that first crash was pretty tough.”
How do you handle such a situation, especially mentally?
“Once you get back on the bike, it's like returning to your comfort zone, at least for me. I get more anxious waiting between starts than being on the bike. I manage it by trying to take deep breaths, trying to stay calm. Then put yourself in our shoes: thousands of pieces come flying at you. I was also far off, so I can't imagine Fabio, for example, who saw the entire front fork coming at him. I experienced it as a race where you just try to survive. Fortunately, everyone in the garage did a great job. Even in moments of agitation and confusion, they managed to keep me calm, not letting me sense the nervousness. They had to prepare everything in a short time without knowing when we would restart and without knowing how everyone else was. So, if I have to say a big thank you, it's to my team. Because it's not easy.”
Aside from the events, this weekend you didn't seem like the Bezzecchi of your best days on the RS-GP.
“In the bad luck of these episodes, I was fortunate that they were all in front of me. Not that this makes me happy. Whether good or bad, I was performing more or less like yesterday: the first day I had a decent day, then I remained there consistently. I struggled to improve, I couldn’t manage it, and my pace was always the same. I struggled and always rode in discomfort. It was a whole weekend spent riding above the problems. But I still managed to make only a few mistakes. I think that’s the only positive side, even though there are really few. Another positive side is that tomorrow there’s a test, so we can try to fix these sensations I have. Maybe they also depend on the way I ride, which for this track might not be perfect. At least we have an opportunity to work on it right away.”
Do you know that with all these penalties, you might have even reached the podium today?
“I saw! But honestly, I didn’t ask too much, also because these are things that the officials need to look at,” said the Aprilia rider before knowing about Mir’s penalty.
Is this track “okay” or should something be done to make it safer?
“There are definitely some topics that can be discussed. It’s also true that an accident like that of Alex and Pedro could not be imagined. With the way bikes are ridden and how crashes usually happen, you typically fall in a corner. Track safety has improved a lot; they’ve done fantastic work in all the usual crash spots. But a crash like that, due to a collision at that point of the track, is clearly unexpected. Obviously, you would want a track in the middle of the desert, but I don't think that’s possible. Surely something can be tried, we will talk about it, but I don’t know what will come of it.”
Mir mentioned that he believes the start should be moved further forward. Marini, on the other hand, said that without launch devices, it would be much less dangerous. What do you think?
“Here the straight is long and the starting point is far back. I don’t think launch devices make the difference. The problem is that MotoGP bikes are very fast. Everyone wants to try to do well, and now two positions more on the first lap can potentially make a difference. So, accidents can happen. Lately, it wasn’t happening, fortunately, but unfortunately, it can occur. It takes just a moment to make a mistake. It has happened to everyone, it has happened to me, it has happened to really everyone.”
Perhaps less aggression in the initial stages, when you're all close together, could help.
“The point is that everyone wants to try to do well, and now two more positions on the first lap might make a difference. I find it hard to express myself honestly. Many times maybe I’ve made mistakes too. I also put myself in Zarco’s shoes today: he had the potential to do well, maybe he didn’t have a fantastic start, he tried to take a bit more risk, and unfortunately, it didn’t work out for him. Sometimes it’s like divine luck, like it was for Jorge at Le Mans. These are situations where you need to be skilled, but also fortunate. So I don't feel like saying too much.”
A small nice thing: in two weeks, you’re heading to Mugello, leading the championship with a strong bike.
“I’m very happy. Also because I want to ride again, come on. I’m still a bit... guzzo, this weekend – which in Romagna dialect translates as “with a bitter taste in my mouth” - The weekend didn’t turn out as I hoped, I’d love to do it over!”, concluded Bezzecchi.