(PRIMASPORT) MANDALIKA – Coming off a disastrous Saturday for Aprilia, the Mandalika weekend ended with the most triumphant day in the history of the Veneto manufacturer in the MotoGP World Championship. Marco Bezzecchi's triumph in the Indonesian Grand Prix marked Italy's 300th win in the premier class. It was a true revenge for the rider from Romagna, who returned to victory 133 days after his victory at Mugello, when he dominated the championship with a 102-point advantage over Marc Márquez. The Catalan rider was the big loser of the day, finishing sixth with significant tire management issues and once again overtaken at the top of the championship standings by Jorge Martin. Martin finished third, between the two Team Trackhouse bikes of Raul Fernandez (second) and Ai Ogura (fourth), who completed the Noale manufacturer's triumph: never before had four bikes placed in the top four of a MotoGP race. (PRIMASPORT)
The Indonesian Grand Prix could tell a very different story from the previous day's Sprint Race, as can be sensed from the start: Fernandez and Bezzecchi, who had crashed on Saturday, battled this time, but without taking risks, sprinting to the front. Marquez held firm and took third place from Di Giannantonio, followed by Aldeguer and a seemingly indifferent Martin, who was only sixth. The next lap already mixed things up, with Aldeguer ending up in the gravel and Martin doing well to pass Di Giannantonio, thus immediately chasing Marquez. Marquez suddenly lost a second on the third lap, handing third place to his great title rival. However, the lap that changed Ducati's weekend forever was lap 7: within seconds, Bagnaia retired once again and Acosta overtook an increasingly struggling Marquez. The Catalan's fifth place has enormous specific weight, allowing Martin to overtake him again in the standings even if by just one point.
While the top three positions appear frozen, the constant battle for fourth place continues to shift the championship standings like a yo-yo: both Marquez and Acosta struggle to manage tire pressure and swap positions four times between laps 13 and 20. But once the Ducati rider is ahead, he also regains a one-point lead over Martin in the standings. When his KTM compatriot overtakes him, the Aprilia rider regains the lead. The decisive move comes on lap 20, to which the Desmosedici simply cannot react. Indeed, on the next lap, he also has to cede fifth place to the recovering Ogura, finding himself sixth and two points behind: he will never be able to shake off that position until the checkered flag. Meanwhile, Bezzecchi's race began to brighten again, finally overtaking Fernandez on lap 19 (heavily affected by the after-race effects of a broken finger). By the next finish line, he had already built up a lead of a full 1.5 seconds, finishing 4.260 points clear, and his win brought him to within 46 points of the championship leader, who, as mentioned, now reverts to his teammate Martin. But in the Trackhouse garage, there was no reason to complain: Ogura's comeback wasn't over yet, culminating in a pass on Acosta on the third-to-last lap, securing fourth place overall. A dream scenario for Aprilia, while Ducati was licking its wounds: the pendulum of the championship seems to have shifted again after a Mandalika Sunday where no one would have imagined the two Italian manufacturers' standings so far apart.
