First came the stopwatch. Then the first corner. Marco Bezzecchi began Saturday at Misano by doing something nobody had ever done before: 1’29.982, a new outright lap record and the first ever sub-1’30 lap at the circuit.
Pole position.
Home.
Aprilia.
And thirteen laps ahead of him to try to turn all of that into a victory.
Marc Marquez, however, takes the lead almost immediately. Starting from second, the #93 attacks at Turn 1 and from there builds a race Bezzecchi tries to reopen without ever getting close enough to launch a real attack.
Marc wins in 19’48.519. Marco finishes second, 1.068 seconds behind.
Jorge Martin completes the podium at 3.538, while Fabio Di Giannantonio crosses the line fourth, only 0.430 behind the second Aprilia.
For Bez, it is another strong Saturday. But above all, one thing is clear. At Misano, Marco is there. And on Sunday, he will start from pole again.
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1’29.982: Misano has a new benchmark
Before the Sprint, qualifying had already made plenty of noise.
Bezzecchi had ended Friday Practice on top with a 1’30.144, after spending both sessions trading the fastest time with Marc Marquez. On Saturday morning, he raised the level again.
1’29.982.
The first ever lap in the 1’29s at Misano.
Marc tried to answer, but stopped 0.198 seconds short. When he saw Marco’s time appear on the timing screens, the Spaniard admitted he knew pole was effectively gone.
So Bezzecchi started from the front. And at Misano, in front of his home crowd, there are not many better ways to begin a Saturday.
Turn 1 changes the Misano Sprint immediately
Then the lights go out. And Marc does almost exactly what he did at Aragon.
Bezzecchi starts from pole, but the #93 gets the better launch and takes the lead at the first corner. At the end of lap one, the gap is already 0.353 seconds. By lap six, it is 1.118. It looks like the beginning of a breakaway.
Marco, however, refuses to disappear. During the second half of the Sprint, he starts closing the gap again. The advantage comes down. With three laps to go, Bez is back to around half a second and for a moment it looks as though the race might reopen.
Marc answers immediately. He sets the fastest lap, rebuilds the gap and takes the Ducati to the chequered flag 1.068 seconds ahead. There is never a real attack. But Marco forces Marc to respond.
And that may be the most interesting detail heading into Sunday.
Diggia narrowly misses the podium in the Misano Sprint, Marini takes the final point
Behind the leading pair, another Italian stays very close to the positions that matter. Fabio Di Giannantonio starts fourth and spends the opening part of the Sprint in third. Then Jorge Martin arrives. The Championship leader gets past and puts the second Aprilia on the podium, but Diggia does not disappear.
He finishes fourth, 3.968 seconds behind Marc, only 0.430 behind Martin. Six points. No podium this time. But once again, Fabio is there.
After leaving Aragon fourth in the World Championship, Misano begins with another result confirming that his presence near the front no longer feels occasional.
Luca Marini had already produced a strong qualifying performance. Sixth place, second row and the best Honda on the grid.
He loses positions during the Sprint but remains inside the points until the end. Marini finishes ninth, 11.712 seconds behind the winner. It is the final points-paying position on Saturday.
Only one point.
But after an Aragon weekend that began with a Sprint crash before ending with two points on Sunday, Misano at least begins with something already in the bag.
Bagnaia 13th: the problem has not gone away yet
Then there is Francesco Bagnaia. And it is difficult to make the number look any softer than it is.
After missing direct access to Q2 on Friday, Pecco fails to escape Q1 on Saturday morning and starts 14th.
The Sprint does not change the picture. He gains one position and finishes 13th, 17.763 seconds behind his teammate. No crash. No incident cutting short a promising race. Simply, once again, too far away.
Silverstone opened a question. Aragon did not answer it. Misano, so far, has not either. Sunday brings 27 laps.
And this time, Pecco needs first of all for something to change.
Misano Sprint: Morbidelli 12th, Bastianini 15th
The other two Italians also finish outside the points.
Franco Morbidelli starts eighth after a solid qualifying session but loses ground during the Sprint and finishes 12th, 17.405 seconds behind Marc. Bagnaia arrives just behind him.
Enea Bastianini starts further back, from 16th, and finishes 15th at 18.476.
Three Italians separated by just over one second. But all outside the top nine. The contrast with the front is clear.
Bez second.
Diggia fourth.
Marini takes the final point.
Then the gap.
Twenty-two points — and Sunday still completely open
The Sprint changes the Championship picture again. Jorge Martin remains the leader with 263 points. Marc Marquez moves to 249. Bezzecchi is third on 241.
Fourteen points separate Marc from the lead. Twenty-two separate Marco from his teammate.
It is a bigger gap than Bez had when he arrived at Misano. But the weekend is not over. And the Sprint classification alone does not tell the whole story.
Marco was fastest on Friday. On Saturday morning, he rewrote the circuit record.
In the afternoon, Marc took Turn 1 and the victory. Bez did not disappear. He started pulling him back. Not enough to attack. Enough to make him answer.
Sunday brings 27 laps.
Marco will start from the same grid slot again.
He no longer needs to prove he can be the fastest rider at Misano.
He has already done that.
On Sunday, he needs to make sure Turn 1 does not tell the whole story again.
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