The 24 hours of Mandalika. This is the time during which the Spaniard Jorge Martin, who crashed on Sunday, remained at the head of the MotoGP World Championship, quickly called to order by the Italian Francesco Bagnaia who won the Indonesian Grand Prix . The Frenchman Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) took 3rd place, behind the Spaniard Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) whom he threatened for a long time, at the end of a race full of dramatic events.
Starting in 13th position after disastrous qualifying, Bagnaia on the factory Ducati took advantage of the multiple turnarounds to regain his seat as world leader, with 18 points ahead of Martin, winner the day before the sprint, five races from term. With a three-second lead with 13 laps to go, the Ducati-Pramac rider could manage but he made a mistake and ended up in the gravel.
Before that, starting in 6th position, the 25-year-old Spaniard got off to a great start and immediately took the lead, ahead of the Italian Luca Marini (Ducati-VR46) who also made a mistake. With his hands on his head, in a gesture of spite, the native of Madrid remained for a few minutes at the side of the track watching his great rival for the world title put pressure on the other Spaniard Maverick Vinales (Aprilia), who ended up giving in.
Bagnaia, very unhappy since Friday, after finishing 8th in the sprint, took a brilliant revenge after starting far on the grid. “We deserved this victory. Starting 13th… I gave the maximum in the first laps and when I saw that Martin had fallen, I controlled my speed and I told myself that it was possible to pass (first),” said reacted the Transalpine. The Italian then explained to the media that he had been very frustrated since Friday and that he had to work overnight with his team after having “struggled a lot” with the new tires. As for Martin, he wanted to put things into perspective. “These are things that happen. I kept attacking…and focused on speed,” he said. “I had had an incredible race up to that point. I have to be calm, (there are) still 10 races (sprints and GP, editor’s note) to go, still a long way to go.”
On the 2nd step of the podium last season, Quartararao tried until the end to dislodge Vinales but had to settle for 3rd place. “I’m a little frustrated,” reacted the Nice resident. “I know my speed and I came back well. I’m very happy to be back on the podium and I hope we will do even better at Phillip Island (the next GP in Australia).” “I rode really well and I controlled the bike very well,” commented Vinales. “I pushed as hard as I could but my rear tire was dead. We will try to do that again and I think we can win soon.”
In the general classification of the world championship, Bagnaia is now 18 points ahead of Martin and 63 over the Italian Marco Bezzecchi who finished 5th on Sunday after taking 3rd place in the sprint on Saturday. An unexpected performance for the driver who underwent an operation for a broken collarbone just eight days ago. Arriving on Friday before the first tests, Bezzecchi received the green light from the doctors but fell in the first laps on Friday morning, fortunately without seriousness. In strong heat (more than 32°C), only 14 riders (out of 21) finished the Grand Prix after the falls, notably of the six-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez, who would nevertheless like to bring one last success to Honda before his departure. next season at Ducati-Gresini.
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