Marco Bezzecchi Claims Second Consecutive Victory at Heat-Shortened Brazilian Grand Prix

Marco Bezzecchi of Aprilia Racing won the Brazilian Grand Prix in MotoGP on Sunday, claiming his second consecutive victory of the 2026 season and his fourth consecutive Grand Prix win overall. The race, held at the Autodromo Internacional Ayrton Senna in Goiania, was shortened from 31 to 23 laps before the start due to extreme heat causing severe tyre degradation and raising safety concerns. Bezzecchi's Aprilia teammate Jorge Martin finished second, while Fabio Di Giannantonio of the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team completed the podium in third. Reigning world champion Marc Marquez of the Ducati Lenovo Team finished fourth after failing to overhaul Di Giannantonio in the closing laps. Bezzecchi now leads the MotoGP World Championship standings with 56 points, 11 ahead of Martin.

4 (consecutive Grand Prix victories) — Bezzecchi's winning streak spanning two seasons

Bezzecchi took the lead from the very first corner after starting from second on the grid, overtaking pole-sitter Di Giannantonio before Turn 1, and was never seriously challenged again. By lap four, he had already built a margin of more than one second over the chasing pack, and by the finish he crossed the line with a 3.2-second advantage over Martin. The Italian dedicated the victory to his friend Roberto Lunadei, who died in a traffic accident.

„It was a tough weekend, it was super tough on Friday, we started in a bad way and it was difficult to keep the motivation super high. But the guys did a wonderful job and I pushed myself over the limit to try to compensate everything I could and at the end we found the way to make the bike in a fantastic way. I adjusted some details on my riding and from this morning I felt better, so I said, 'OK, maybe I can try to fight.' It was an amazing race, I'm super happy.” — Marco Bezzecchi via BBC

Martin, who had to return to the operating room during the winter to consolidate fractures to his collarbone and scaphoid suffered in 2025, was exuberant after securing his first podium since winning the 2024 title.

„Marco era super fuerte. Las salidas largas todavía son una incógnita para mí en esta etapa, pero estoy muy feliz de cerrar el fin de semana así. Quiero agradecer a Aprilia y al propio Marco, que me ha ayudado mucho. Creo que somos un gran equipo y podemos conseguir muy buenos resultados este año.” (Marco was super strong. The long runs are still an unknown for me at this stage, but I'm very happy to close the weekend like this. I want to thank Aprilia and Marco himself, who has helped me a lot. I think we make a great team and we can achieve very good results this year.) — Jorge Martin via EL PAÍS

Marquez and Di Giannantonio trade blows for the final podium spot The battle for third place between Marc Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio was the defining subplot of the race, with the two Ducati riders making contact on track during an intense duel. Marquez moved into second early in the race behind Bezzecchi, but a mid-race incident in which Di Giannantonio went wide at a corner allowed Martin to slip through and take second place, leaving the two Ducati riders to fight for the podium. With five laps remaining, Marquez managed to get past Di Giannantonio on the inside of a corner, with both riders touching and barely leaving space between their bikes, but Di Giannantonio recovered the position shortly afterward when Marquez made a small mistake. Marquez ultimately settled for fourth rather than risk a crash in only the second round of the 22-race season. The result left Marquez fifth in the championship standings, 22 points behind Bezzecchi, according to El Pais. Pedro Acosta of KTM, who had led the championship standings entering the weekend, finished seventh after opting for a soft rear tyre that lost pace in the closing laps, dropping him to third in the standings.

MotoGP last raced in Brazil more than two decades before this event, making the Goiania circuit a historic return for the championship. Jorge Martin won the 2024 MotoGP World Championship with Prima Pramac Racing, becoming the first independent team rider to win the premier class title in the MotoGP era, before moving to Aprilia Racing. Bezzecchi's four consecutive Grand Prix victories placed him in the company of Valentino Rossi, Marc Marquez, Jorge Lorenzo, and Pecco Bagnaia as the only riders to achieve such a streak in the modern MotoGP era, according to El Pais.

Holgado holds off late pressure to win Moto2 In the Moto2 category, Daniel Holgado riding a Kalex machine won the Brazilian Grand Prix, holding off a late challenge from compatriot Daniel Muñoz, also on a Kalex, to take the victory. Manuel González, another Spanish rider on a Kalex, completed the podium in third. The all-Spanish, all-Kalex podium underlined the dominance of Spanish riders in the intermediate class at this round. The next MotoGP round is the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, scheduled for March 27-29.

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Quiles takes Moto3 win after red flag cuts race short Máximo Quiles riding a KTM won the Moto3 race at the Brazilian Grand Prix, a contest that was cut short by a red flag and declared over before its scheduled distance. The race was marked by two significant crashes involving Spanish riders. Joel Esteban, who had started from pole position for the first time in his career, was battling for second place on lap 7 when his bike delivered a violent kick that sent him airborne, with his head striking the asphalt of the Goiania circuit directly. The 20-year-old was able to walk away from the crash under his own power, though the incident was described as potentially very serious. David Almansa, who had entered the race as the Moto3 championship leader, crashed on lap 13, two laps before the red flag was shown, and lost the championship lead as a result. With Almansa's exit, Quiles moved into first place in the Moto3 world standings following his victory.