The Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati-Pramac) won the Indonesian Grand Prix on Sunday, the 15th round (out of 20) of the MotoGP season, consolidating his leading position in the world championship, while his main rival Francesco Bagnaia ( Ducati) took 3rd place.
On the overheated Mandalika track, Martin, who started from pole position, led from start to finish, and won ahead of the young Spanish driver Pedro Acosta (GasGas-Tech3) and the Italian Bagnaia, his runner-up in the general classification.
Bagnaia, who won the sprint race on Saturday, won here last year.
“Terima kasih! (thank you in Indonesian, editor’s note)”, Martin said after his success, addressing the Indonesian public, motorcycle enthusiasts, before receiving his trophy from the hands of the outgoing President of the Republic, Joko Widodo.
Unhappy the day before when he fell at the start of the 2nd lap before finishing 10th in the sprint, Martin put things back on track and returned to victory, his last success dating back to the French Grand Prix in May.
The Madrilenian now has 366 points in the general classification, compared to 345 in Bagnaia, five events from the end of the season. Each GP victory earns 25 points, 12 for a sprint race victory.
The Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati), who did not finish, is relegated to 75 points, ahead of Marquez.
“It’s not just a victory,” Martin commented. “After what happened last season (fall, editor’s note), after yesterday’s fall, performing in this way was quite difficult.”
“I have confidence in myself but I thought I was going to fall at every turn. There was a lot of pressure from Pedro (Acosta, editor’s note) so I’m really happy,” added the Pramac driver.
Respectively 3rd and 4th in the general classification, Bastianini and Marc Marquez (Ducati-Gresini) were forced to retire.
The six-time Spanish Moto GP world champion saw the engine of his Ducati GP23 catch fire on the 11th lap.
– First double 10 for the French –
On the 14th lap, Bastianini, who was putting pressure on the leading men, made a mistake. This benefited Bagnaia who gradually moved up from 6th place.
“(It was) a very, very difficult race. I had a lot of trouble at the start. This is the fifth start in a row where we have struggled. We need to improve this area,” reacted the Italian.
“As soon as I got back in front, I was able to attack, but it was too late,” he added.
Of the 21 drivers who started on this circuit with high humidity, set along the turquoise waters of the island of Lombok, only 12 finished. The Spaniard Alex Marquez and the Australian Jack Miller retired from the start in a crash involving two other drivers.
Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), who took 3rd place last year, made it into the Top 10, in 7th place.
“It was cool, I had fun from the 10th lap onwards. We even had the pace to be even closer to the top 5. We will continue to follow the path we chose to improve, even if at Motegi it will be more complicated” declared the 2021 world champion after the race.
The other French driver in the field Johann Zarco, 9th, obtained his best result of the season.
“I’m happy, I was dreading a long race in the heat, but ultimately the weekend went well and I’m happy to have seized the opportunity to confirm the performances glimpsed on Friday” explained the Honda driver, the best ranked in the world championship (17th) of the Japanese brand which will play at home next weekend with the Japanese Grand Prix.
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