A despondent Marco Bezzecchi was left to rue a costly mistake in the British MotoGP as his title challenge suffered a setback at Silverstone.
The VR46 Ducati rider, who capitalised on Francesco Bagnaia’s 14th-place finish in the Sprint race on Saturday by claiming the runner-up spot to close the gap to 27 points, crashed out of second place after tucking the front under braking at the end of the Hangar Straight.
Bezzecchi was chasing Bagnaia when he went down, throwing away a potential podium or race victory.
Lenovo Ducati rider Bagnaia went on to finish in second place and pocket 20 points, giving him an increased lead of 47 points over Bezzecchi after the ninth round.
Bezzecchi has slipped to third in the championship, six points behind Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin after Sunday’s mishap.
Reflecting on the mistake, the 24-year-old said: “It was not a problem [braking issue]. I braked quite strong as I did already in the other laps, but just when I braked, I start to have front lock very soon.
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“So, I had to release the brake and once I released the brake, I got inside the slipstream of Pecco, so the bike, instead of stopping, was accelerating.
“I was coming very close to him, so I had some shaking and then I lost the front.
“It’s a shame, I’m very sorry for this because I was strong, but it’s like this.”
The Italian, though, had many positives to take from the weekend, even though he ultimately lost ground in the title race to Bagnaia.
“The weekend was positive. I was fast in every condition – wet, dry, mixed – so I have to be satisfied,” Bezzecchi said.
“But when you make a mistake in the GP then it looks like all the job you have done means nothing.
“But it’s not like this, so we have to stay positive, we have to continue to work in this way because I think we are making a good job.
“The championship is long, we have many races to go, so we have time to get some good results.”
Bezzecchi is eager to make amends at the next round of the championship at the Red Bull Ring in Austria (August 18-20), where he has previously won in the Moto3 and Moto2 classes.
“First of all, I’m happy to go to Austria because it’s a track that I like and I won in Moto3 and Moto2,” he said.
“Last year was not too bad, despite a bad qualifying I was able to make a great comeback and I finished ninth.
“So, I can’t wait to go there, also because when you crash you want to jump on the bike soon. So, can’t wait, but for the moment I feel a bit bad for today.”
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