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Race report
MotoGP Indonesian GP

MotoGP Indonesian GP: Martin seizes championship lead with sprint win

Pramac’s Jorge Martin took the lead in the MotoGP standings for the first time after winning the Indonesian Grand Prix sprint race with Francesco Bagnaia eighth.

Martin has now won four sprint races on the bounce to head Bagnaia in the standings for the first time in 2023.

The Spaniard beat poleman Luca Marini by 1.131 seconds having started sixth on the grid following a crash in qualifying, and now leads the championship by seven points.

A late error for Marini gifted Martin a comfortable margin to victory, while VR46 celebrated double podium success as Marco Bezzecchi joined his team-mate on the rostrum.

Both VR46 Ducati riders come to Indonesia after recent collarbone fractures, with Marini injuring himself in a collision with Bezzecchi in India, while the latter went under the surgeon’s knife last Monday after a crash during training.

Failing to exit Q1, erstwhile championship leader Bagnaia struggled to move forward in the sprint from 13th and could do no better than eighth despite several errors for others.

Marini got the best launch off the front row at the start of the 13-lap contest to maintain pole into Turn 1, while Maverick Vinales on the Aprilia and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo slotted in behind.

Vinales immediately took the lead from Marini at Turn 2 and quickly broke away from the chasing pack.

A crash for Honda’s Marc Marquez on the opening lap pushed Bagnaia up to 11th come the end of the tour.

Martin assaulted the podium places at the start of lap two, sending his Pramac Ducati up the inside of Quartararo into Turn 1.

But he ran wide and let Quartararo back through, with the same thing happening moments later at Turn 10. Martin made the move stick at Turn 11.

Vinales’ lead stood at seven tenths at the start of lap three and was close to a second on the following tour.

Bagnaia would find himself up to eighth on lap four, after Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) and Brad Binder (KTM) collided on lap two and the second factory KTM of Jack Miller ran off at Turn 1 on the fourth tour.

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Meanwhile, Martin would find his way through on Marini on lap five and quickly demolished Vinales’ lead as the Aprilia rider started to struggle with tyre wear.

Martin took the lead on lap nine, but came under late pressure from Marini once the VR46 rider got back ahead of Vinales on lap 10.

The gap between the top two was just four tenths at the start of the penultimate lap, but a near-crash for Marini at Turn 13 ended his charge and allowed Martin to comfortably get to the chequered flag.

Vinales held onto fourth from Quartararo, while Gresini’s Fabio Di Giannantonio was sixth from factory Ducati pair Enea Bastianini and Bagnaia.

Miller was ninth after his early off-track moment to take the last point on offer, while RNF Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira was 10th.

Binder rejoined after Espargaro took him down, but could do no more than 19th. The incident was investigated but no further action was taken.

Ducati has wrapped up the constructors’ championship for 2023 following Martin’s sprint victory.

MotoGP Indonesian GP - Sprint race results:

 

 
         
Driver Info
 
 
 
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Retirement Points
1 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 13 19'49.711   169.1   12
2 Italy L. Marini Team VR46 10 Ducati 13 +1.131 1.131 169.0   9
3 Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 13 +2.081 0.950 168.8   7
4 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 13 +2.720 0.639 168.8   6
5 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 13 +3.121 0.401 168.7   5
6 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing 49 Ducati 13 +4.203 1.082 168.5   4
7 Italy E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23 Ducati 13 +4.981 0.778 168.4   3
8 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 13 +5.465 0.484 168.4   2
9 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 13 +7.852 2.387 168.0   1
10 Portugal M. Oliveira RNF Racing 88 Aprilia 13 +8.942 1.090 167.9    
11 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 13 +12.034 3.092 167.4    
12 France J. Zarco Pramac Racing 5 Ducati 13 +14.015 1.981 167.2    
13 Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 13 +14.823 0.808 167.1    
14 Spain R. Fernández RNF Racing 25 Aprilia 13 +15.699 0.876 166.9    
15 Italy F. Morbidelli Yamaha Factory Racing 21 Yamaha 13 +23.331 7.632 165.9    
16 Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 13 +24.894 1.563 165.7    
17 Spain P. Espargaro Tech 3 44 KTM 13 +27.169 2.275 165.4    
18 Spain A. Rins Team LCR 42 Honda 13 +28.980 1.811 165.1    
19 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 13 +43.090 14.110 163.2    
dnf Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia 7 +6 Laps 6 Laps 162.5 Retirement  
dnf Spain M. Marquez Repsol Honda Team 93 Honda 0       Accident  

 

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