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After a difficult adaptation to his Ducati GP23, Marco Bezzecchi was able to find the right rhythm on the Jerez track, becoming once again one of the top protagonists of MotoGP. Having crashed out in yesterday's Sprint race, while fighting for third position, the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team rider promptly redeemed himself in the Spanish GP, where he took his first podium finish of the season, behind Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez, facilitated by the crash of the championship leader, Jorge Martin.
"I am very happy to be back on the podium. The end of the season last year was difficult because of my shoulder injury, but even at the beginning of this season I struggled a bit to adapt to my new bike. That's another reason why I'm really happy to be here and to have been competitive all weekend, even yesterday in qualifying and in the Sprint Race, where I was there in the fight and, even though I crashed, I had a good feeling with the bike - Bez analyzed in the press conference - Today the start was the key and it was good to battle with Marc and Pecco. Well, I tried to follow Pecco, but he was a little too fast, however, I managed to pass Marc a couple of times and I am very happy with the performance."
A big step forward from the first races of the season.
"Here at Jerez we immediately found a good feeling with the bike and that helped me to be fast. We worked well and I am very happy with this result, which I have been missing for a while. We needed a good race ," said Marco, who said the progress made in Andalusia was not just the result of an improvement in his feeling with the Desmosedici: "I think it was a combination of factors. The bike is improving. My team has done a great job from the beginning of the year until now, and I too have tried to adapt, although I have struggled to get used to this new bike, which is different from the previous one. I didn't have confidence in the front, I didn't feel comfortable, and when you lack confidence in the front, usually it's tough. Vale also gave me a lot of advice during this period, and it was also very good to have him here with us. He helped me a lot, especially with the starts. I think it was a mix of all of that."
A nice dose of confidence after some difficult months.
"It's hard to say just one lesson I learned during this period. Unfortunately, or fortunately, you always learn from difficult moments, so I think I have grown as a rider and adapted better to the bike and rode more on top of the problems, because even today I was not 100 percent. I'm still missing something, but in the meantime let's enjoy it," he said laughing, "It will be difficult for us to organize a party tonight, as we have the test tomorrow, however, when I get back I will celebrate with my friends, because we had a bet."
Before thinking about having fun, the VR46 team rider remains focused on the work to be done on the track on tomorrow's test day.
"We still have a lot of work to do, because I don't consider that I have arrived. It will be an important test, where we will try different changes on the bike and I'm curious to see what feedback they will give me, especially because now there will be a few tracks that I like and where I want to try to be competitive," he noted.
The 25-year-old's goal, after all, is precisely to confirm this newfound competitiveness in two weeks at the Le Mans track, where he won the Grand Prix in 2023.
"Last year's was a fantastic GP for me, but I honestly don't expect anything. I don't want to put too much pressure on myself ," Bezzecchi underlined, " I want to confirm my speed, because I will only consider that I am really back when I can reconfirm my results, because confirming them is the hardest thing. Today was a good day, it was a good weekend, but in motorcycle racing everything can change in an instant. I experienced it firsthand last year: I won in India and then I never got on the podium again. I definitely did a good job here in Jerez, because I struggled last year, but I want to do at least one more race before I can say I'm back. In Le Mans I hope to start the weekend well and do my best. I will work as hard as I can to be fast, but it is a track I really like and where there is a good atmosphere."
Speaking of atmosphere, the Romagnolo rider can't help but praise the one that he found this weekend in Jerez.
"It's a lovely place and it's great. Fortunately, for the past couple of years people have been coming back to watch the races at the circuit, although honestly there has never been a lack of people here. It is one of the places where there has always been a big crowd, partly because they have a great passion for motorsport in Spain. It is certainly one of the most beautiful races on the calendar, both because of the track and the atmosphere. I'm not Spanish, but I really like races in Spain, and in terms of atmosphere this is certainly a race to be included in the Top 3," remarked Marco, who heard the Italian national anthem being played right at the home of his rivals. "I came in behind the only Spaniard on the podium, so to be honest I didn't think about it ," he admitted. "It was nice to hear the Italian anthem, though.
