Italy’s Marco Bezzecchi’s impressive start to the MotoGP season continued with victory in Brazil as defending champion Marc Marquez finished fourth.
Aprilia rider Bezzecchi, who won the opening race in Thailand on 1 March, finished top of the podium again with Spanish team-mate Jorge Martin in second.
Bezzecchi’s Italian compatriot Fabio di Giannantonio of Ducati, who had started in pole position, finished third in front of Marquez.
The competition at the Autodromo Internacional Ayrton Senna in Goiania marked MotoGP’s return to Brazil for the first time in more than two decades.
However, the race had to be shortened from 31 to 23 laps before the start due to extreme heat which was causing severe tyre degradation and raising safety concerns for the riders.
Bezzecchi acknowledged his team were forced to dig deep after struggling during a rain-hit practice on Friday.
“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,” the 27-year-old said.
“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.”
Bezzecchi moved to the top of the championship standings with 56 points after two rounds as he climbed above Pedro Acosta (KTM), who lost his lead after he finished seventh.
The next MotoGP round will be the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas on 27-29 March.