2024 Indonesian MotoGP: Francesco Bagnaia wins sprint after Martin crashes from lead
MotoGP championship battle takes another dramatic swing in Mandalika sprint
Francesco Bagnaia led a factory Ducati 1-2 in the MotoGP Indonesian Grand Prix sprint after championship leader Jorge Martin crashed out of the lead on the first lap.
Having dominated qualifying to take pole, Pramac rider Martin’s practice pace suggested he could break away from the field in the 13-lap sprint.
Taking the lead off the line and getting his advantage up to over four tenths across the opening lap, Martin slid off his GP24 at the penultimate corner.
This released Bagnaia, who had moved up to second from fourth, into a lead he would defend through to the chequered flag for his fifth sprint win of 2024.
Martin remounted but finished out of the points in 10th. His championship lead is now down to just 12 points, with Bagnaia cutting it in half on Saturday.
The podium was completed by Enea Bastianini and Marc Marquez.
Off the line on the opening lap, Martin came under no pressure into Turn 1 as Bagnaia carved his way down the outside of the riders ahead to move into second having started fourth.
Behind, Gresini rider Marc Marquez - having crashed twice in Q2 - jumped up from 12th to fifth, with that becoming fourth when Martin crashed out of the lead at Turn 16 at the end of the first lap.
Bagnaia was able to put some distance between himself and the chasing pack once in the lead as VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi and Marquez battled over the other podium places with Tech3 GASGAS rider Pedro Acosta.
On lap three, Bezzecchi forced Acosta a bit wide as he made a move for second, which allowed Marquez into third.
Bezzecchi was able to keep Bagnaia in sight while fending off Marquez once in second, but threw it all away on lap seven when he outbraked himself into Turn 10 and almost wiped out the leader.
This promoted Marquez into second, though Bagnaia resisted this pressure as Bastianini began to close in on the pair having worked his way into third from fifth on the grid.
Bastianini got ahead of Marquez at Turn 10 on the penultimate lap, but this allowed Bagnaia’s lead to swell to 0.8s at the start of the final tour.
Across the final lap, Bastianini chipped into his team-mate’s lead and exited the last corner just 0.107s behind Bagnaia.
Marquez dropped off the pace after Bastianini overtook him to secure third, 1.7s behind, while Bezzecchi was fourth ahead of Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli - both riders one of a few to use the soft front tyre.
Acosta was sixth at the chequered flag ahead of Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, while Johann Zarco scored points for Honda in eighth for LCR after qualifying seventh on Saturday.
VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio took the final point in ninth, as Martin completed the top 10 after his early spill.
Honda’s Joan Mir and Tech3’s Augusto Fernandez suffered separate crashes in the 13-lap sprint, while Raul Fernandez fell early on but remounted to finish 19th.
