Marco Bezzecchi turned 28 on 12 November 2026 with a new landmark on his MotoGP record. His commanding Qatar Grand Prix victory at Lusail was the Aprilia RS-GP rider’s sixth win of the season and his 12th in the premier class. He is also still mathematically in contention for the 2026 world championship, despite a campaign repeatedly interrupted by mistakes and bad luck.

The significance of the Qatar result lies not only in the number of victories, but in their distribution. Bezzecchi became the first rider to win 12 premier-class races at 12 different circuits. The previous benchmark was held by Freddie Spencer, who won 11 races at 11 different tracks between 1982 and 1984. Spencer, a three-time world champion and MotoGP Hall of Fame member, set that mark with Honda.

A record spread across three seasons

Bezzecchi began the sequence in 2023, winning in Argentina before adding France and India later that season. In 2025, he extended the circuit list with victories in Great Britain, Portugal and Valencia. His 2026 wins came in Thailand, Brazil, the United States, Italy, Indonesia and Qatar, with Lusail providing the result that took him to 12 different winning venues.

The Qatar weekend captured the mixed character of his season. Bezzecchi crashed on Saturday following contact with Marc Márquez, an incident that has divided opinion among observers and proved difficult for the rider to accept. On Sunday, however, he led from the start to the finish and turned the same weekend into one of the strongest victories of his campaign. The result underlined the speed that has often made him one of the fastest riders on the grid, even as errors and unlucky episodes reduced its effect in the championship.

From Mahindra to Aprilia

The record comes after a long progression through the world championship. Bezzecchi won the Italian Moto3 title with Mahindra in 2015, the same year in which he made his world-championship debut. His first full world-championship season was 2017, again with Mahindra, and included a podium. He switched to KTM in 2018 and claimed his first victories in Argentina and Austria.

He moved into Moto2 in 2019, taking two wins in 2020 and another in 2021. His MotoGP debut followed in 2022 with the VR46 team and Ducati machinery. Bezzecchi was named rookie of the year and scored his first premier-class podium in the Netherlands, which was also the team’s first MotoGP podium. His first MotoGP victory arrived in Argentina the following year, followed by further wins at Le Mans and in India.

The 2024 season proved more difficult, after which Bezzecchi moved to Aprilia. His 2025 campaign then developed into a clear upward curve alongside the RS-GP. He contributed substantially to the motorcycle’s development, while his early-season pace initially brought fewer results than it promised. The turning point came at Silverstone, where he won after starting 11th on the grid.

More strong results followed: second place at Assen, a podium at Brno, pole positions, a Sprint win and second place in the San Marino Grand Prix, a Sprint victory in Australia, and the pole-and-race double at Portimão. He also took pole position and victory in the final race at Valencia. Those results secured third in the 2025 championship. Bezzecchi is third again in 2026, but his record-setting Qatar win means the title challenge remains open as he turns 28.