MotoGP Indonesian GP: Bezzecchi leads Aprilia 1-2-3-4; Martin reclaims points lead from Marquez

Marco Bezzecchi outduelled Raul Fernandez to claim his first MotoGP win in over four months at the Indonesian Grand Prix, as his team-mate Jorge Martin retook the championship lead with third.

Just a day after they made contact in an opening lap melee and crashed out of the sprint - an incident that left Fernandez with a broken finger and triggered a major outburst - Bezzecchi and Fernandez engaged in a thrilling race-long battle for top honours in Mandalika.

After biding his time in second, factory Aprilia rider Bezzecchi passed the Spaniard on lap 19 of 27 and then pulled away at the front, taking the chequered flag with a winning margin of 4.2s.

Martin had no answer to his Aprilia compatriots but a third-place result put him back at the top of the standings, with reigning champion Marc Marquez only managing sixth on the factory Ducati.

At the start of the race, both Marquez and Bezzecchi challenged polesitter Fernandez, with Bezzecchi the first to reach the braking zone for Turn 1. But the Italian rider ran too deep into the corner and dropped back to second place, allowing Fernandez to reclaim the lead.

Meanwhile, erstwhile championship leader Martin made a poor launch from fifth on the grid and dropped to sixth, behind the Ducatis of Fermin Aldeguer and Fabio di Giannantonio. But the Spaniard quickly began working his way towards the front, dispatching di Giannantonio before moving to fourth when Aldeguer crashed at the end of lap 2.

Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, Marc Marquez, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images

This put him directly behind his title rival Marquez, who appeared to struggle in the early laps after taking a shock win in Saturday’s sprint. Sensing an opportunity, Martin wasted little time behind the Ducati rider, passing him with ease on lap 3 to move into podium positions.

But by this stage, Fernandez and Bezzecchi had already checked out at the front, with the pair emerging as the only contenders for victory.

The Trackhouse rider initially built a lead of nearly a second, but Bezzecchi came back at him on lap 9, closing the gap down to half a second.

The pair then began to trade fastest laps, with Bezzecchi responding to Fernandez’s pace whenever the latter tried to pull away at the front.

But by the middle phase of the race, Bezzecchi was clearly the quicker of the two, and on lap 19, he made the decisive move into Turn 1 to hit the front. 

Once ahead, the Italian immediately pulled out a lead of over a second, helped by Fernandez running wide at Turn 1.

With Fernandez unable to fightback, Bezzecchi cruised to the finish line, securing his first MotoGP win since May’s Italian Grand Prix and the first for Aprilia since the British Grand Prix at the beginning of August.

Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images

Fernandez, who was not even sure about contesting the race after his injury, secured a solid second place, with Martin claiming the final spot on the podium.

Meanwhile, Ai Ogura, who admitted to being the slowest Aprilia rider on Saturday, rose from seventh on the grid to pass KTM’s Pedro Acosta on the penultimate lap to complete a 1-2-3-4 for Aprilia.

Acosta still finished in front of Marquez after the pair traded positions several times through the middle of the race as they tried to keep their tyre pressure above the legal levels.

With Marquez only managing sixth, Martin leads the championship again - by two points - heading into the Australian Grand Prix in two weeks’ time.

Meanwhile, Alex Marquez crossed the finish line in seventh place in the sole-surviving Gresini, with di Giannantonio managing only eighth after starting on the front row.

Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) and Enea Bastianini (Tech3) completed the top 10.

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images

Brad Binder was next up in 11th on the factory KTM, while Honda delivered an improved showing over the sprint as both Luca Marini and Johann Zarco finished inside the points in 12th and 13th respectively.

Franco Morbidelli (VR46) and Alex Rins (Yamaha) were the last of the points scorers in 14th and 15th respectively.

Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini), Jack Miller (Pramac) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) all crashed out in the early stages of the race, with Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac) later joining them in the list of retirees. 

MotoGP Indonesian GP results

RACE

All Stats

 

Cla	Rider	#		Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Retirement	Points
1	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72		Aprilia	27	40'46.582				25
2	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25		Aprilia	27	+4.260 40'50.842	4.260			20
3	J. Martin Aprilia Racing Team	89		Aprilia	27	+6.890 40'53.472	2.630			16
4	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79		Aprilia	27	+9.378 40'55.960	2.488			13
5	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37		KTM	27	+9.492 40'56.074	0.114			11
6	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93		Ducati	27	+10.778 40'57.360	1.286			10
7	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73		Ducati	27	+16.821 41'03.403	6.043			9
8	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49		Ducati	27	+19.840 41'06.422	3.019			8
9	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20		Yamaha	27	+19.999 41'06.581	0.159			7
10	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23		KTM	27	+21.111 41'07.693	1.112			6
11	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33		KTM	27	+21.912 41'08.494	0.801			5
12	L. Marini Honda HRC	10		Honda	27	+22.656 41'09.238	0.744			4
13	J. Zarco Team LCR	5		Honda	27	+26.260 41'12.842	3.604			3
14	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21		Ducati	27	+28.012 41'14.594	1.752			2
15	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42		Yamaha	27	+31.662 41'18.244	3.650			1
16	D. Moreira Team LCR	11		Honda	27	+34.168 41'20.750	2.506
17	M. Viñales Tech 3	12		KTM	27	+55.596 41'42.178	21.428
dnf	T. Razgatlioglu Pramac Racing	7		Yamaha	8	+19 Laps 12'25.706	19 Laps		Retirement
dnf	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63		Ducati	5	+22 Laps 9'06.307	3 Laps		Retirement
dnf	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43		Yamaha	5	+22 Laps 7'58.643			Retirement
dnf	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54		Ducati	1	+26 Laps 2'47.767	4 Laps		Retirement
View full results