Mandalika received an absolutely dramatic race in MotoGP! Francesco Bagnaia is back to victory and the championship lead, on a Sunday full of intense moments, some desperate and nerve-wracking. Jorge Martín was comfortably leading the race when, without anyone expecting it… he fell and handed the victory to Bagnaia on a silver platter. This GP could be decisive in the final championship standings.
The temperature was 31ºC, 57ºC on the ground, and over 102 thousand spectators in the stands ready to watch the Indonesian GP.
At the start, the highlight goes to Jorge Martín, who went from sixth position to first and even managed to get the holeshot. Francesco Bagnaia was determined to attack and was already sixth and soon gained two more positions, to place himself behind Fabio Quartararo (third) and Maverick Viñales (second).
Shortly after, Luca Marini received a warning to complete a Long Lap but fell shortly after, already in the second lap after a touch from Brad Binder. Pol Espargaró also fell, in a different accident, and was out of the race.
With the first five laps completed, Martín led by 1.594s over Viñales, Bagnaia was already third (+3.088s), Aleix Espargaró was fourth and Quartararo fifth. Binder received a notification that he would have to serve a Long Lap penalty after Race Direction deemed him responsible for Marini’s crash, and the South African did not delay in serving it, relegating him to tenth place, behind Marc Márquez. Nine laps completed and Miguel Oliveira, winner in Indonesia last year, was sixth and 2.145s behind Quartararo, with Jack Miller right behind threatening to overtake… which he did. Oliveira thus moved to seventh and Miller was the best KTM on track. This was the top ten at this stage of the race: Binder was back in the spotlight attacking and when he overtook Oliveira, he touched him and pushed the Portuguese off track, a piece of the Portuguese’s bike fell off and… Oliveira lost many positions. The incident was being analyzed by Race Direction.Back at the front of the race, Bagnaia was in second but Viñales responded and moved to the front and shortly after… drama for Martín! With a three-second difference to second place, the Pramac rider and championship leader from Spain crashed at turn 11.
Binder received a notification moments later that he would have to do another Long Lap penalty after the incident with Oliveira, the second of the race.
Martín’s crash could mean victory for Viñales, who had over 1s on Bagnaia, and the Italian was virtually the new championship leader.
And the bad luck for Pramac didn’t end there, as Johann Zarco also crashed, without injury.
They were missing ten laps to go and Viñales was leading with 0.546s over Bagnaia, Quartararo was third and Fabio Di Giannantonio fourth, one of the best races for the Italian who still does not have a guaranteed spot for 2024 in the main category. Miller was fifth.
In the following laps, there was little else to report, with Binder being one of the highlights: the South African, with two Long Laps, was fifth… but who did not stay behind was Marco Bezzecchi who beat his opponent and rose to the top five.
Two laps before the end everything was still open: Bagnaia was defending himself from Viñales, less than two tenths of a second separated the riders!
The race ended shortly after with Bagnaia confirming his return to victory and the lead in the championship.
