MANDALIKA
\nDucati\u2019s Francesco Bagnaia battled heroically from 13th on the grid to win a thrilling Indonesia Grand Prix in Mandalika on Sunday, as he reclaimed the lead in the riders\u2019 championship after Jorge Martin crashed out.
\nBagnaia crossed the line 0.306 seconds ahead of Aprilia\u2019s Maverick Vinales in second while Yamaha\u2019s Fabio Quartararo, the 2021 world champion, finished third.
\n\u201cI think we deserved a race like this. I just tried to do the maximum I could in the first few laps,\u201d said Bagnaia, who started in 13th after failing to qualify from Q1 in Saturday\u2019s qualifying session.
\n\u201cI tried to take care of the tyres, then in the last laps I was a little out of pace, so I was controlling a lot.\u201d
\nChampion Bagnaia is back on top of the riders\u2019 standings with 346 points, with Martin (328) in second and VR46 Racing\u2019s Marco Bezzecchi (283) in third.
\nPramac Racing\u2019s Martin, who took the championship lead on Saturday after winning the sprint, started from the second row in sixth place but did not stay there long, rocketing off the line in hot conditions to take the lead after the very first turn.
\nBut with the Spaniard cruising with a comfortable lead of over two seconds, his bike went from under him and he was dumped in the gravel, leaving him holding his head in his hands in disbelief at spurning the gilt-edged opportunity.
\nPramac Racing had a day to forget, with Johann Zarco also crashing out to compound their misery.
\nAfter Martin crashed, Vinales was briefly in the lead but Bagnaia kept up his aggressive riding, slowly and steadily gaining ground on the Aprilia rider before blowing past him in the 20th lap.Vinales and Quartararo were locked in an intense duel for third place for much of the final portion of the race, but the Spaniard clung on for a second-placed finish.
\nGresini\u2019s Fabio Di Giannantonio was fourth and Bezzecchi, racing just days after undergoing surgery on a broken collarbone, ended in fifth, ahead of Red Bull KTM duo Brad Binder and Jack Miller.
\nPole-sitter Luca Marini crashed out early on after a coming-together with Binder while Honda\u2019s six-times MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez, who confirmed earlier this week that he will be joining Gresini Racing for the 2024 season, also crashed out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MANDALIKA Ducati\u2019s Francesco Bagnaia battled heroically from 13th on the grid to win a thrilling Indonesia Grand Prix in Mandalika on Sunday, as he reclaimed the lead in the riders\u2019 championship after Jorge Martin crashed out. Bagnaia crossed the line 0.306 seconds ahead of Aprilia\u2019s Maverick Vinales in second while Yamaha\u2019s Fabio Quartararo, the 2021 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":362136,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-362124","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n