Bagnaia regains championship lead after winning in Indonesia

Francesco Bagnaia took back the championship lead from Jorge Martin and surged ahead by 18 points after an incredible win in Indonesia.

In a thrilling Indonesian Grand Prix that saw MotoGP points leader Jorge Martin fall from the lead, Francesco Bagnaia battled through from 13th on the starting grid to claim victory.

Prima Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin made an attempt to complete a double after winning the MotoGP Mandalika Sprint the day before and taking the lead in the Championship.

Bagnaia was able to get off to a strong start from the midfield and finished the opening lap in sixth place. The Ducati ace later climbed up to fourth after a collision between pole-sitter Luca Marini and Brad Binder, in which the latter crashed into the side of the VR46 rider, forcing him to retire from the race.

Soon after, the defending world champion took Fabio Quaratraro’s third spot, but by then, championship contender Martin had advanced ahead by about three seconds after the Pramac rider surged to the lead after starting from sixth on the grid.

Aleix Espargaro got off to a terrible start in the race but eventually made his way through the pack while running on soft tyres. In a separate incident, his brother Pol Espargaro lost control of his bike at the tricky turn 16 and crashed.

Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez crashed out, making the eight-time World Champion’s weekend even worse. His teammate Joan Mir also crashed a few laps later after clashing with LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami.

However, Martin’s worst was yet to come as he lost the front of his Ducati and crashed just before midrace at Turn 11.

As a result, Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales of took the lead while Bagnaia moved up to second place. However, Bagnaia started to narrow the gap as his decision to run a harder front tyre gradually paid off.

Bagnaia eventually succeeded in overcoming Vinales with only six laps remaining after several laps of pressure from the reigning world champion.

While continuing to be under assault from Vinales and a charging Fabio Quartararo, Bagnaia made every effort to keep things under control over the remaining laps. Luckily Bagnaia ultimately took the chequered flag for his sixth victory of 2023 by only 0.306s.

Vinales just barely managed to hold onto second after fending off Quartararo’s assaults. The Yamaha rider flawlessly saved his tyres over the final laps, but not adequate enough to give him a clear path past the Aprilia.

Quartararo’s Indonesian performance represented his third rostrum finish of the year and his second in the previous three races as he continues to have a successful year-end.

Fabio Di Gianantonio made a strong return for Gresini Ducati after a shaky start to finish fourth, his highest premier class finish. Marco Bezzecchi on the VR46 Ducati rounded out the top five while trying to conserve his energy as a result of the collarbone injury he sustained last week.

Binder, on the other hand, managed to finish sixth despite receiving two long-lap penalties during the race. The first came after he was held accountable for the collision that eliminated Marini, and the second followed after he later eliminated Miguel Oliveira through Turn 2.

The South African edged his factory KTM teammate Jack Miller for thes spot in the final laps as Miller dwindled.

Enea Bastianini set the fastest lap of the race and finished eighth overall, while Alex Rins on the LCR Honda had a solid run to ninth in his first race since the Italian GP sprint race in June.

Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro finished in the top 10 after a challenging race. His risky decision to run soft tyres cost him the chance to finish in the top five.

Only 14 riders finished the attrition-filled race, with Takaaki Nakagami on the sister LCR Honda taking 11th place ahead of RNF Aprilia duo Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez. The final classified rider was Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli, who placed 14th overall.

For the GasGas team, Augusto Fernandez and Pol Espargaro both failed to finish the race after they both crashed their KTM RC16s.

2023 INDONESIAN MOTOGP RACE RESULTS