Marco Bezzecchi has stormed to victory in the Indonesian Grand Prix while Jorge Martin finished third to reclaim the overall season lead in the MotoGP world championship. The Italian Bezzecchi, riding an Aprilia, made his move on pole-sitter Raul Fernandez in the final third of a captivating Grand Prix at a sweltering Mandalika International Circuit on Sunday. Spain’s Fernandez came home second and compatriot Martin third, also on Aprilia bikes.
Ducati’s reigning seven-time world champion Marc Marquez finished sixth. That meant Martin retook the lead in the championship from Marquez by two points, with five more race weekends remaining. Martin leads with 355 points, with Marquez on his tail on 353.
Bezzecchi is still alive in the championship title hunt, in third position with 309 points. They have been through tough times with me.” Martin, who will head to Australia in a fortnight with the most slender of leads, said he had done all he could. At the start I lost a lot of positions but tried to be calm and was overtaking riders step by step.
Fernandez, having to improvise to brake after fracturing two fingers in Saturday’s sprint, got away cleanly from his first-ever pole. He and Bezzecchi, who started alongside him on the grid, had clashed and crashed out in the sprint. The sprint was won by Marquez to grab the championship lead for the first time from compatriot Martin.
After a third of the 27 laps in the Grand Prix, Fernandez kept the fellow Aprilia of Bezzecchi at bay despite his injury. Former world champion Martin was running third, with Marquez looming in fifth without ever really threatening. Fernandez, who had two previous victories, kept his cool under tremendous pressure from Bezzecchi until lap 19, when the Italian made his move to grasp the lead.
Bezzecchi streaked away from there to win by 4.26 seconds as Fernandez gamely hung on for second.
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