Mandalika hosted an absolutely dramatic MotoGP race! Francesco Bagnaia returned to victory and the lead of the world championship on a sunday full of intense moments, some desperate and nerve-wracking. Jorge Martín was comfortably leading the race when, without anyone expecting him to… he crashed and handed victory to Bagnaia on a plate. This GP could be decisive in the final accounts of the world championship.
The temperature was 31ºC, the ground 57ºC and more than 102,000 spectators in the stands ready to watch the Indonesian GP.
At the start, the highlight went to Jorge Martín, who went from sixth position to first and even got the holeshot. Francesco Bagnaia was keen to go on the attack and was already sixth and soon gained two more positions to get behind Fabio Quartararo (third) and Maverick Viñales (second).
Soon after, Luca Marini received a warning to do a Long Lap, but crashed shortly afterwards, on the second lap, after being touched by Brad Binder. Pol Espargaró also crashed in a separate accident and was out of the race.
With the first five laps completed Martín was leading by 1.594s over Viñales, Bagnaia was already third (+3.088s), Aleix Espargaró was fourth and Quartararo fifth.
In the meantime, Binder received notification that he would have to do a Long Lap after Race Direction found him guilty of Marini’s crash, and the South African was quick to do it, which dropped him to tenth place behind Marc Márquez.
Nine laps in and Miguel Oliveira, last year’s winner in Indonesia, was sixth, 2.145s behind Quartararo and Jack Miller just behind, threatening to overtake… which he did. Oliveira moved up to seventh and Miller was the best KTM rider on the track.
That was the top ten at this stage of the race:
Binder was once again under the spotlight and as he overtook Oliveira, he touched him and knocked the Portuguese off the track, a piece of the Portuguese rider’s bike fell off and… Oliveira lost a lot of positions. The incident was being analysed by Race Direction.
Back at the front of the race, Bagnaia was second but Viñales responded and moved into the lead and soon after… drama for Martín! With a three-second gap to second, the Pramac Spaniard and championship leader crashed at turn 11.
Binder was notified a few moments later that he would have to do another Long Lap after the incident with Oliveira, the second of the race.
Martín’s crash could have meant victory for Viñales, who had more than 1s on Bagnaia, and the Italian was virtually the new championship leader.
And Pramac’s bad luck didn’t stop there, after Johann Zarco also crashed, but not seriously.
With ten laps to go, Viñales was leading by 0.546s over Bagnaia, Quartararo was third and Fabio Di Giannantonio fourth, one of the best races for the Italian who is not yet guaranteed a place in the top category for 2024. Miller was fifth.
There was little more to tell in the following laps, with Binder being one of the highlights: the South African, with two Long Laps, was fifth… but Marco Bezzecchi didn’t let up, beating his opponent and climbing into the top five.
With two laps to go, everything was wide open: Bagnaia was defending against Viñales, with less than two tenths of a second separating the riders!
The race ended soon after with Bagnaia confirming his return to victory and the lead of the world championship.