Marco Bezzecchi won Sunday’s Indonesian MotoGP Grand Prix at Mandalika as Aprilia completed a top-four finish and Jorge Martin regained the championship lead from Marc Marquez. Bezzecchi passed Trackhouse Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez on lap 19 of 27 and won by 4.260 seconds, with Martin third and Marquez sixth. Martin now leads the standings by two points with five grands prix remaining.
Bezzecchi’s win was his first since the Italian Grand Prix in May, according to MotoGP and specialist reports. It also marked a major recovery after he and Fernandez had crashed out in the opening-corner collision during Saturday’s Sprint. The pair instead fought over victory for much of Sunday’s race, before Bezzecchi made the decisive move at Turn 1.
Fernandez had started from pole and led the opening 18 laps, having regained first place after Bezzecchi ran wide at Turn 1 on the first lap. Bezzecchi then reduced the gap during the middle phase, recorded the race’s fastest lap and went ahead on lap 19. Fernandez ran slightly wide after the pass, allowing the Italian to build a margin he retained to the flag. MotoGP reported that Bezzecchi’s lead had grown to 1.4 seconds immediately after the move.
Fernandez takes second after finger injuries
Second place carried considerable significance for Fernandez after the Trackhouse rider sustained two broken fingers in the Sprint crash. Motorsport reported that the fracture to his right index finger created a particular difficulty because he normally uses that finger to brake.
Fernandez and his team changed the position of his hand and brake arrangement so that he could operate the brake with his middle finger. He said the altered technique meant he had to reset his references for braking and corner entry, and that pain became a greater problem after roughly one-third distance. Even so, he held on for second, 4.260 seconds behind Bezzecchi.
Martin completed the podium after a strong early recovery. He dropped from fifth to sixth at the start but moved forward when Fermin Aldeguer crashed on lap two, then passed title rival Marquez on lap three. Martin could not stay with the leading Aprilias, yet his third place was sufficient to turn Saturday’s championship setback around.
Aprilia fill the first four places
Ai Ogura passed Pedro Acosta late on to finish fourth, completing Aprilia’s first MotoGP top-four lockout. The result placed the two factory Aprilias of Bezzecchi and Martin ahead of the two Trackhouse machines of Fernandez and Ogura.
Acosta took fifth for KTM, while Marquez was sixth on the Ducati. The race followed a Saturday in which Marquez won the Sprint and Martin finished fourth, a result that had moved Marquez four points clear at the top of the championship. Sunday’s Grand Prix reversed that position.
| Rider | Points after Mandalika | Gap to leader |
|---|---|---|
| Jorge Martin | 355 | Leader |
| Marc Marquez | 353 | 2 points |
| Marco Bezzecchi | 309 | 46 points |
The numbers show the immediate importance of Martin’s response. He collected 16 points for third on Sunday while Marquez took 10 for sixth, creating a six-point swing in the Grand Prix itself. That more than offset the four-point deficit Martin faced after the Sprint, leaving him two points ahead after the Mandalika weekend.
Bezzecchi is 46 points behind Martin after Mandalika, leaving him further back than the leading pair. Martin, meanwhile, said his recent run had increased his confidence that he could be competitive in the remaining rounds.
The next meeting is the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island in a fortnight. With only two points between Martin and Marquez, the standings are exactly as close as they were before the Indonesian weekend, despite the lead changing hands after Saturday’s Sprint and again after Sunday’s Grand Prix.