Agencies
Lombok Island (Indonesia)
Francesco Bagnaia restored his lead in the MotoGP championship with victory in Sunday’s Indonesia Grand Prix at the Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit on the Indonesian resort island of Lombok.
Spain’s Jorge Martin had moved ahead of the Italian in the standings after winning Saturday’s sprint race but crashed out on lap 14 while leading.
Ducati’s Bagnaia moved from 13th on the grid to claim a sixth win of the season and open an 18-point lead over Martin.
Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales came in a close second and Fabio Quartararo, of Yamaha, was third.
"I think we were deserving a race like this,” Bagnaia said of his win. "(I was) doing the maximum I could then when I saw Martin going, I said to myself ‘take care of the tyres’ and that was the correct thing. I am very, very happy.”
Martin, 25, of Pramac Racing, had reeled in Bagnaia after winning two of the previous three grands prix and a fourth consecutive sprint race to lead the MotoGP championship - by seven points - for the first time in his career.
He looked set to complete a sprint race-Grand Prix double for the second successive race weekend after catapulting himself from sixth on the grid to take an early lead.
Defending champion Bagnaia, 26, has suffered mixed fortunes since imperious early season form was halted by a serious crash at the Catalunya Grand Prix in September, which left him with "multiple contusions”.
He had failed to win any of the past four races since his crash in Spain but responded in Indonesia to wrestle back control of the championship.
Frenchman Quartararo said he was unhappy with his speed but content with his spot on the podium.
Bezzecchi heroics
It was a superlative weekend for Italian Marco Bezzecchi, the Mooney VR46 rider who surprised by riding just a week after surgery on a broken collarbone.
Starting from ninth on the grid, he produced a heroic ride to fifth behind Fabio Di Giannantonio.
That kept him 63 points behind in the title race, which he still has a slim chance of winning.
The race was marred by a series of crashes in hot and humid conditions, with only 14 riders out of 21 finishing the race.
Marc Marquez’s race ended when he slid off the track in lap eight, with the Spaniard shouting to the sky as he left his Honda bike after a dismal weekend in which he also failed to complete Saturday’s sprint race.
Marquez will join Gresini Racing for the 2024 season.
Luca Marini, who immediately lost his pole position to Martin from the green light, saw his day go from bad to worse when he went down at turn 10 after being nudged by Brad Binder, sliding off the track.
Bagnaia, Martin and Bezzecchi will head to Australia with just five race weekends left to see who can come out on top in one of the closest MotoGP battles for years.
In the Moto2 race, Pedro Acosta took first place to increase his lead in the championship standings, cruising to victory more than two seconds in front of Aron Canet.
Brazil’s Diogo Moreira won the Moto3 race for his first win after a last-lap scrap with Daniel Holgado, who closed the gap on second-place Ayumu Sasaki in the overall standings.