Marc Marquez wins the Mandalika Sprint – Jorge Martin finishes only fourth – A crash at the start takes out the two Aprilia riders, Raúl Fernández and Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez wins a dramatic sprint at Mandalika ahead of Ai Ogura (Trackhouse-Aprilia) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46-Ducati). A crash at the start ended the race for Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) and Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse-Aprilia), whilst Jorge Martin (Aprilia) dropped from first to fourth in the closing stages. With his eighth sprint victory of the season, Marquez takes the lead in the World Championship.
The sprint began with a thrilling incident that triggered a chain reaction in the first corner: pole-sitter Fernandez, Bezzecchi, Marquez and Di Giannantonio entered the first corner side by side, a corner that offers no room for four riders.
As they braked for Turn 1, there was contact between Fernandez’s front tyre and Bezzecchi’s rear tyre. Both Aprilia riders crashed as a result of the contact. For them, the race was therefore over after just a few seconds. This meant that Aprilia, as a manufacturer, lost two riders at once, whilst an intense battle for the sprint victory unfolded at the front.
Martin got off to the best start and took the lead. At the end of the first lap, he was ahead of Marquez and his team-mate Ogura. Martin was then able to pull away slightly and extended his lead over Marquez to more than a second after three laps. The Ducati rider initially had to stay behind his World Championship rival, but kept the gap small to remain within striking distance.
Marquez strikes back, Martin loses control
On the ninth lap, Martin let Marquez past because he was experiencing problems with the prescribed minimum front tyre pressure.
On the penultimate lap, things got significantly worse for Martin, as he couldn’t find enough grip on the rear tyre, had to take a wide line through Turn 15 and consequently lost several positions. As the leading group was very tightly bunched at that point, he was pushed all the way back to fourth place.
After the race, Marquez explained that he had been under a lot of pressure right from the start. “It was a very tough race, especially at the start. When I then saw that Martin was in the lead, I gave it everything I had. On the third or fourth lap, I made a big mistake, and that allowed him to open up a gap,” said the winner.
Marquez benefited from Martin’s problems and subsequently controlled his lead over Ogura. “In the final stage of the race, I was able to make up some ground again. I think he might have had a problem with tyre pressure or something like that,” Marquez speculated.
After the race, Martin confirmed he’d had problems with the minimum pressure in his front tyre. Marquez also emphasised that his feel for the bike had improved with every lap and that his pace had steadily increased.
Ogura shines with second place
Behind Márquez, Ogura – despite a broken little finger sustained in FT1 – secured second place. The Japanese rider finished 0.509 seconds behind and thus celebrated a strong result for Trackhouse-Aprilia. Given the retirement of his team-mate Fernández, these were important points for the team.
Ogura is satisfied with his performance, but also points out areas where there is still room for improvement:
“That was fantastic. During the race, however, I saw that we still have a lot of work to do in two or three areas. If we want to fight for positions like we did today, we need to step it up,” explains Ogura. He says the result is good, but there is still a lot of work ahead of them. His focus is now on Sunday’s Grand Prix.
Di Giannantonio completes the Ducati podium
Di Giannantonio completed the podium, finishing 0.835 seconds behind Marquez. The Italian had already played a decisive role in the early stages and capitalised on the events in the closing stages to secure a place in the top three. However, he wasn’t entirely satisfied with his own performance:
” “I’m always very self-critical, and I don’t think we got the most out of our performance today. I think I could have done better,” said Di Giannantonio.
At the same time, he highlighted the positives: “We’re back where we want to be and we’ve got loads of pace. The hunger is there. I’m determined to give these lads a proper fight.” He wants to stay focused and go on the attack again on Sunday.
Marquez takes the lead in the World Championship with his eighth sprint victory
With his sprint victory at Mandalika, Marquez has now celebrated his eighth sprint win of the season and his 23rd overall. The Ducati rider now has 343 points and has thus taken the lead in the World Championship. Martin drops back to second place with 339 points. There are now four points separating the two title contenders.
Behind the top four riders, Alex Marquez (Gresini-Ducati) finished in fifth place. Pedro Acosta (KTM) finished sixth after receiving a long-lap penalty for track limits, followed by Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini-Ducati) in seventh. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) took eighth place, whilst Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) finished ninth. Alex Rins (Yamaha) finished tenth, just outside the points.
After the race, the physical strain was clearly evident on Marquez: with an air temperature of 30 degrees Celsius, a track temperature of 60 degrees and humidity of 72 per cent, the conditions at Mandalika were particularly demanding. Before the podium ceremony, Marquez was given a cooling vest, which he put on under his leathers. Afterwards, the Spaniard had to sit down on the ground.
The 27-lap Indonesian Grand Prix starts tomorrow, Sunday, at 9.00 am CEST.
For Martin, the Grand Prix is about bouncing back from the setback in the sprint and scoring more points than Márquez again. Márquez, on the other hand, starts from the second row as the new championship leader and has the chance to further extend his lead.
