Four weeks after Marc Marquez crashed at the Sprint race in France, he made a resounding comeback and took back-to-back wins in both the Sprint and full-length races in Hungary. The race at Balaton Park also saw a whirlwind collision at Turn 1 involving three Aprilia riders – current championship leaders Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin and Trackhouse Aprilia’s Raul Fernandez – VR46 Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio and Gresini Ducati’s Fermin Aldeguer.
- Marquez scores 37 points, is now fifth in the standings
- Martin handed double long lap penalty for initiating T1 crash
- Di Giannantonio finishes ahead of Morbidelli despite rejoining after the crash
Turn 1 debacle initiated by Martin sees 5 riders collide
Balaton Park is a circuit on the MotoGP calendar that’s one of the toughest to overtake on and one must try to push hard into the opening corner to make up as many grid positions as possible. Martin, who started eighth, was super aggressive going into the opening corner, and in the hard braking zone, he lost control to crash out. In the process, he took out his teammate (and current championship leader) Bezzecchi, fellow Aprilia rider Fernandez and satellite Ducati riders Aldeguer and Di Giannantonio.
After the race, the stewards’ panel handed Martin a double long lap penalty, which he will have to serve in the next race at Brno in the Czech Republic.
Marquez, Acosta have heated battle at the front
Balaton Park is a circuit that Marc Marquez dominated last year, and despite recovering from a double surgery mere weeks ago, the reigning World Champion took wins in both the Sprint and main races this year, too. While Marquez was able to capitalise on his pole position in the Sprint, KTM’s Pedro Acosta made it more interesting in the main race. Acosta was quick to pounce on Marquez in the main race, and he managed to overtake him and stay in the lead for a few laps. In these few laps, Marquez tried time and again to seize the lead, but Acosta was able to keep him at bay for a while at least. Ultimately, Acosta’s maiden MotoGP race win keeps eluding him as Marquez retaliated decisively to ultimately take the lead as well as the victory.
Di Giannantonio ahead of Morbidelli despite involvement in T1 crash
Despite his strong weekend in Hungary, Acosta still remains in fourth place when it comes to the overall standings, behind Di Giannantonio. That’s because the Ducati rider, despite his involvement in the crash on the opening lap, remounted and resumed his race at the back of the grid in P18. What followed was a masterclass of gumption from Di Giannantonio as he rode his banged-up Ducati to twelfth place. While there were a couple of crashes ahead, he still overtook four riders ahead of him, among whom was his teammate Franco Morbidelli. Thus, Di Giannantonio retained his position in the top three of the World Championship standings, six points ahead of Acosta.
WSBK stand-in Iker Lecuona finishes respectable P7
At the Hungarian GP, standing in for the injured Alex Marquez was current Ducati WSBK rider – formerly in KTM’s Tech3 MotoGP team – Iker Lecuona. At the end of the T1 crash, it was Jack Miller’s Pramac Yamaha machine that was behind the podium trio and following him was a long train of riders. The Hondas of Joan Mir, Luca Marini, Diogo Moreira, as well as Ai Ogura’s Aprilia and Lecuona’s Ducati, were all behind the Australian.
One by one, all of these riders either passed Miller or crashed out and Ai Ogura even finished as high as fourth after passing the two Hondas of Marini and Moreira ahead of him. Overall, for a replacement rider like Lecuona, finishing as high as he did, it was a pretty respectable feat for someone who has been away from prototype machinery for over two years.
2026 MotoGP standings
Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin still remain at the top of the pile despite scoring no points on Sunday. Pedro Acosta and Marc Marquez are the ones that have made significant strides towards the top with their strong performances in Hungary, the former fourth and the latter fifth in the Championship, respectively. The next race will be held at the Brno racetrack in the Czech Republic in two weeks’ time on the weekend of June 19-21.
Unnatee Gidithuri
Vishal Venugopal
