Pecco pounces at Indonesian MotoGP

Two title rivals, two days and two starkly different outcomes. Even from Friday afternoon, the Grand Prix of Indonesia was showing signs that things may play out unexpectedly when, for the first time all season, Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) missed out on direct a spot in Q2. Things became even stranger on Saturday when not only did Bagnaia miss out on Q2 altogether, but neither of his title rivals in Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Ducati) or Marco Bezzechi (Mooney VR46 Ducati) capitalised on the reigning champ’s bad day, qualifying sixth and ninth respectively.

Martin pulled things back on track slightly when he charged to a comfortable victory in the 12-lap Sprint, especially when a nervy Bagnaia failed to make one successful pass during the contest which meant Martin’s seventh-consecutive victory handed the Spaniard a seven-point advantage in the standings heading into the 27-lap grand prix on Sunday.

With Martin’s confidence sky-high, Bagnaia appearing to buckle under the pressure and Bezzechi racing with a newly plated collarbone, the Spaniard looked unstoppable. His lightning-fast start from sixth on the grid to take the holeshot from front-row starter Maverick Vinales (Aprilia racing) was the best we’ve seen from anyone all year. By lap four, he’d posted three consecutive fastest laps and appeared to be on his way to his fourth double victory on the spin.

But further back, Bagnaia was showing unusual aggression and had moved himself up seven places by the end of the opening lap. Things got better for the Italian when Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) made contact with pole man Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Ducati) and earned a long-lap penalty for the crash that followed. By lap four, Bagnaia was in third place, 1.8sec behind the leading pair.

The stifling hot conditions were proving trying for the world’s best riders, however. Pol Espargaro (GasGas Tech3) was the second man to fall, Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) suffered his 23rd crash of the season on lap eight, consolidating his reasons for switching to the satellite Gresini Ducati squad for the 2024 season, Augusto Fernandez (GasGas Tech3) and Joan Mir (Repsol Honda), too. By half race distance, just 16 riders remained.

Surprisingly, Binder earned himself a second long-lap penalty when contact with Miguel Oliveira (RNF Aprilia) speared the Portuguese man off track, but no one could believe it – not least Jorge Martin – when the Prima Pramac rider crashed out of a three-second lead on lap 14. If he could hold his nerve, Bagnaia’s early aggression was about to pay off handsomely.

Vinales, who was fast all weekend, now had a 1.174sec advantage over Bagnaia in second place, with Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha) a further two seconds behind. Further back, Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro’s gamble on the soft rear tyre was proving the wrong choice, as Miller passed the front-row starter for fourth, as Martin’s teammate Johann Zarco became yet another faller and in the same place as the Spaniard, just one lap later.

By lap 19, Bagnaia had reduced the gap to Vinales to just two tenths of a second, but Quartararo in third place was faster than both the riders ahead of him. Bagnaia eased past Vinales on lap 20 and put half a second of clear air between him and the Aprilia rider the next time around, but Quartararo’s late race pace was impressive and he was a quarter of a second quicker a lap than both men ahead. A mistake by the Frenchman on lap 24 gave Vinales some breathing space, but with two laps to go, just 0.8sec separated the top three and the Yamaha man was nearly half a second a lap faster than Bagnaia.

In the end, Bagnaia held off the riders behind, showing why he’s a two-time world champion, as Vinales did a brilliant job to keep Quartararo at bay and hold onto second. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Ducati) did his future prospects no harm by finishing fourth ahead of an injured Marco Bezzechi (Mooney VR46 Ducati) who nabbed fifth place off Binder on the final lap.

Miller finished an eventual sixth, ahead of Enea Bastianini (Lenovo Ducati), Alex Rins (LCR Honda), Espargaro and Taka Nakagami (Idemitsu LCR Honda). Oliveira, Raul Fernandez (RNF Aprilia) and Franco Morbidelli completed the field.

The championship pendulum has swung back in Bagnaia’s favour, with 346 points, he’s now 18-points clear of Martin’s 328. Bezzechi is 63 points adrift on 283 as the series resumes in Australia in just five day’s time.