MOTO GP

Jorge Martín returns to victory in Indonesia and Pecco Bagnaia saves face

Spaniard Jorge Martín has returned to victory after nine races after winning the MotoGP race at the Indonesian Grand Prix, after controlling his compatriot Pedro Acosta from start to finish, whose podium is fallow due to being investigated for pressure. Third place went to Italian Pecco Bagnaia to save face in a complicated race, followed by his compatriot Franco Morbidelli, who could access the podium.

Jorge Martín made a fantastic start to get ahead of Enea Bastianini, Pedro Acosta and Pecco Bagnaia in a rough start with a multiple crash in which Jack Miller fell at the change of direction at the chicane and took out Álex Márquez, Aleix Espargaró and Luca Marini, with Joan Mir having to brake suddenly to avoid them. Marco Bezzecchi put his bike in front of Bagnaia, with Franco Morbidelli also taking advantage to pass his compatriot, on whose wheel was Marc Márquez, who had to defend himself from Fabio Di Giannantonio in a nice battle.

Martín took a second lead and Acosta overtook Bastianini, who a lap later gave up another position to Morbidelli in a group that split in two when Márquez tried it with Bagnaia, but the reigning champion immediately gave it back and Di Giannantonio took advantage to overtake the 93.

In front of them, while Acosta escaped after Martín, Bezzecchi overtook Bastianini to get into fourth. Meanwhile, Di Giannantonio and Márquez were engaged in a fight that caused Bagnaia to escape, who seemed to be finding his rhythm and escaped. Moments later, Di Giannantonio fell to the ground.

Acosta continued to push and managed to reduce the gap to Martín to less than a second, leaving the group of Italians formed by Morbidelli, Bezzecchi, Bastianini… and Bagnaia, who was starting to be the fastest rider on the track behind. Marc Márquez was also starting to have a good pace when his Ducati broke down and caught fire with 16 laps to go. Joan Mir fell right after.

The one who was starting to feel more and more comfortable was Bastianini, who overtook Bezzecchi to throw the bike to Morbidelli, who struggled and managed to defend his position. On the second attempt he consolidated the overtaking to try to go after the two in front, who had almost a three-second lead.

Bastianini was completely unleashed and had the pace to go until he fell seven laps from the end, definitively leaving two different fights: up front, Martín was again pushing to escape from Acosta; while behind Bagnaia took advantage of a mistake by Bezzecchi and then another by Morbidelli to move into third.

Jorge Martín did not fail and took his third victory of the season, with Pedro Acosta finishing second at the finish line... only to see him immediately under investigation for exceeding the permitted limit of pressures, which could lead to a 16-second penalty.

Third was Pecco Bagnaia with Franco Morbidelli off the podium, although he could access it later after holding off Marco Bezzecchi. Sixth was Maverick Viñales ahead of Fabio Quartararo, with Brad Binder (also under investigation) beating Johann Zarco, who returned Honda to the top 10 after almost a year. Tenth was Raúl Fernández with Álex Rins twelfth and last.

Swinxy