The Title Fight Becomes More Intense

The weekend at Mandalika turned out to be a spectacular display where the title contenders, Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia, locked horns while Marc Márquez's and Enea Bastianini's chances at the title diminished

- Charan Karthik

JORGE MARTIN OF PRIMA Pramac Racing headed into the weekend as one of the favourites to win the Indonesian GP. In Qualifying, he set the fastest time and took pole position ahead of a surprisingly quick Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) and rookie Pedro Acosta of the Red Bull GASGAS Tech 3 squad. In the second row, world champion Francesco Bagnaia and his Ducati Lenovo teammate, Enea Bastianini, started from P4 and P5, ahead of a quick Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) who seemed to be finally getting some good performance out of his YZR-MI.

Sprint

AS THE LIGHTS WENT OUT ON Saturday, Martin had his usual rocket ship of a start off the line but Bagnaia was soon on the Spaniard's tail. The best start, however, was by Marc Márquez (Gresini Racing) who muscled his way to fifth place by the first corner, having started from P12 on the grid. Martin seemed to be settling down into his rhythm but a few moments later, everything went downhill as he slid out in Turn 16. He was quick to remount and rejoin the race, but the damage was done. This gave Bagnaia the race lead.

Bezzecchi, Márquez, and Bastianini were chasing Bagnaia and were all hot on his tail. With seven laps to go, Bezzecchi went in too hot and almost collided into the rear of Bagnaia's Ducati. The reigning champion was lucky not to be wiped out. The group now had Bagnaia, Márquez, and "The Beast" Bastianini running one-two-three and, on the penultimate lap, The Beast finally got the better of Márquez and overtook him for second but ran out of time to close down the 0.8-second gap to teammate Bagnaia who crossed the line victorious. Jorge Martin finished the Sprint in a disappointing roth.

Race