Francesco Bagnaia came through 13th to win Indonesian GP to retake MotoGP points lead with Maverick Vinales in P2 and Fabio Quartararo P3.
It was a clean start from the pack in Indonesian GP as new MotoGP points leader Jorge Martin shot from sixth to lead at Turn 1 on his Pramac Ducati taking the inside line from Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo.
Pole-sitter Luca Marini dropped to fourth on his VR46 Ducati from KTM’s Brad Binder as Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia was up to sixth from 13th on the grid. He had a back and forth with Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro but kept him off with RNF Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveria in eighth.
KTM’s Jack Miller was ninth from Honda’s Marc Marquez with VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi dropping to 11th. There was an off track moment for Ducati’s Enea Bastianini who dropped to last as Marini crashed after a hit from Binder at Turn 10.
The South African tried the inside line at the right-hander but touched Marini, who managed to continue on only to serve his Long Gap Penalty from Indian GP. He retired after that along with Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli, who seemingly had a mechanical issue.
Amid this, GASGAS Tech 3’s Pol Espargaro crashed out to retire. As Martin led comfortably from Vinales, Bagnaia was up to third bringing Espargaro along as Quartararo dropped to fifth despite trying hard to not let the Aprilia rider to get through him.
Oliveira was sixth from Miller, Bezzecchi, Binder and Gresini Ducati’s Fabio di Giannantonio in the Top 10 where the South African was handed a Long Gap Penalty for his incident with Marini. Marquez, meanwhile, had his second crash to retire after sprint crash.
The KTM pair started to catch Oliveira as Miller got through him. Teammate Binder tried a move on him as well but the two touched sending the RNF rider off onto the gravel. The incident was put under investigation with Oliveira dropping out of Top 15.
Binder dropped him di Giannantonio as LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami was up to 10th from Honda’s Joan Mir. The Spaniard’s run didn’t last long as he crashed out along with Tech 3’s Augusto Fernandez in separate incidents to cut down on the riders running.
Binder was handed a second Long Gap Penalty for irresponsible riding. Up front, Martin was cruising with a dominant lead until a crash at Turn 11 in a big moment. His retirement put Vinales on the lead from to-be MotoGP points leader Bagnaia chasing him.
Quartararo was third after clearing Espargaro who lost fourth to Miller. The Aprilia rider lost to Bezzecchi too but a wide moment allowed him to get ahead of him in fifth. This allowed di Giannantonio to sixth from Bezzecchi with Binder running eighth.
Nakagami was ninth from a recovering Bastianini with LCR’s Alex Rins was 11th from RNF’s Raul Fernandez, Oliveira and Morbidelli who rejoined the grand prix. The field was down to only 14 runners after a crash for Pramac’s Johann Zarco in the same corner as Martin.
At the front, Bagnaia eventually caught up with Vinales and passed him to take the Indonesian GP lead as Quartararo started to close in on them in the chase for his first win of the 2023 MotoGP season. Di Giannantonio ran fourth after clearing Miller.
The Australian lost fifth to teammate Binder as Bezzecchi was seventh from Bastianini who cleared Espargaro. In fact, he lost ninth to Rins who passed both the Aprilia rider and Nakagami in the process as Fernandez was 12th from Oliveira and Morbidelli.
It was close for Top 3 in the end but Bagnaia held on to win the Indonesian GP from 13th on the grid to retake the MotoGP points lead. Vinales held off Quartararo’s charge for second as di Giannantonio secured a fine fourth from Bezzecchi.
The Italian passed Binder on the final lap to fifth as Miller was seventh from Bastianini, Rins, Espargaro, Nakagami, Oliveira, Fernandez and Morbidelli in the Top 14 points places.
Results: https://x.com/MotoGP/status/1713466480623292546?s=20
