The Italian keeps his title hopes alive with a first victory since Mugello, with Aprilia making history in Indonesia to see Marc Marquez finish outside of the top five
300 MotoGP wins for Italy. A history-making Aprilia top-four lockout. And a first victory since the Italian Grand Prix for Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing). That result, after the drama bubbled over in the Mandalika cauldron on Saturday, was desperately needed as Bezzecchi claws back crucial ground in the championship chase. Second place went to the heroic Raul Fernandez (SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team), who, despite two broken fingers, climbed onto the podium, while Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) pocketed P3 to retake the World Championship lead after Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) came home in P6.
THE START
Unlike in the Tissot Sprint, Turn 1 in the Grand Prix was attacked and negotiated without incident. Bezzecchi lunged up the inside of Fernandez to try and gobble up the holeshot and take the lead, but the Italian was slightly wide on the exit to allow the polesitter back through. Marc Marquez got away well, the Sprint winner was an early P3, with 2025 Indonesia winner Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) getting the better of Martin to grab P5, athen P4 from Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team).
Martin then picked his way past Di Giannantonio to move up to P5, before the fast-starting Aldeguer slipped out of contention at the tricky Turn 16 on Lap 2. That gave Martin a free pass to move into P4, but what wasn’t a free pass was what came half a lap later.
Martin, on the inside of Marc Marquez at Turn 10, fired his Aprilia through to climb ahead of his title rival. It was P3 for Martin now, P4 for Marquez, with Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) now hunting the pre-race World Championship leader. And on Lap 4, Acosta set the fastest lap of the Grand Prix.
ACOSTA VS MM93, BEZ SHADOWS FERNANDEZ
It felt like it had been coming for a couple of laps, and sure enough, Acosta pounced on the championship leader. Teammates next year. No teamwork this year, though. Acosta lunged at Turn 10, super late on the anchors, but boy did he nail the pass. A moment on the front-end came through Turn 11 for Acosta, but the #37 held onto P4 to shuffle Marc Marquez back to P5, and in the clutches of Di Giannantonio.
At the front, Fernandez held Bezzecchi at bay by 0.5s, with Martin lapping 1.9s away from his teammate’s rear Michelin tyre. It was as you were for a few laps before Bezzecchi netted the fastest lap of the Grand Prix, a 1:29.991, to begin adding some pressure to Fernandez. 0.4s was the slender gap, with Martin now 2.5s back.
On Lap 13, Marc Marquez was back ahead of Acosta. From the TV pictures, it looked like Acosta was forced to allow his 2027 teammate through, which seemingly meant tyre pressure problems were arising for the KTM star. Then, two laps later, the switch came at Turn 10. Was Marc Marquez now suffering from tyre pressure problems? Incredible.
BEZ MAKES HIS MOVE AS P4 SCRAP IGNITES
Back at the front. Lap 19 of 27, the lead changed for the first time since Turn 1, Lap 1. Bezzecchi carved his way past Fernandez to snatch the lead from the Trackhouse star, and on that very same lap, the Italian hammered home another fastest lap of the Grand Prix. With Fernandez running a little wide at Turn 1 after the move, Bezzecchi’s lead grew to an immediate 1.4s, with Martin riding in a lonely P3 – 2.4s behind Fernandez, 5.7s clear of the popcorn-consuming fight between Acosta, Marc Marquez, and now Ai Ogura (SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team).
Sure enough, the Japanese star pounced. Marc Marquez was shoved back to P6 on Lap 21 at Turn 16, as Ogura then set his sights on trying to make a move on Acosta. His teammate wasn’t giving Martin a sniff at P2 a little further up the road; Fernandez was digging in deep to maintain the gap to Martin, as Ogura then clawed his way past Acosta.
Not without a fightback from Acosta though. The KTM star returned the favour into Turn 13, but Ogura got the job done into Turn 16. Both needed to be careful not to beat each other up too much though, because the #93 was lurking.
APRILIA CLINCH HISTORIC 1-2-3-4
Last lap time then in Indonesia. Bezzecchi’s 3.3s lead meant the Italian could cruise to the flag to earn a much-needed victory, his first since Mugello, to keep his slim title hopes well and truly alive.
Chapeau to Fernandez. With not one, but two broken fingers sustained in the Sprint crash yesterday, Fernandez went above and beyond the call of duty to pocket P2 in Indonesia and also extracting the maximum from Sunday was Martin. The championship leader again. Two points the gap. As you were coming into the weekend. Martin’s 16 points were critical in Mandalika. And handing Aprilia their very first MotoGP 1-2-3-4 finish was Ogura, who did manage to fend off Acosta at the end of the Grand Prix. What a day for the Noale factory.
YOUR INDONESIA POINTS SCORERS
Acosta finished just a tenth away from Ogura to bag a hard-fought P5 in Mandalika, and just over a second behind the battle was Marc Marquez. P6 at the flag means the #93 slides back into P2 in the title chase, but the seven-time MotoGP World Champion would have taken a two-point deficit at the beginning of the weekend. Why? Because he’d never even finished a Grand Prix in Indonesia. And such was Aprilia’s superiority here; not losing any ground to Martin signals a job well done ahead of a trip to Phillip Island.
Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) and Di Giannantonio crossed the line in P7 and P8, with the Italian only just holding off ninth-place Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP). P10 went to Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3), with the other points going to Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) in P12, Johann Zarco (Castrol Honda LCR) in P13, Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) in P14, and Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) in P15.
NEXT UP: PHILLIP ISLAND
Indonesia hosted its fair share of drama. And as we look ahead to our final date with the beautiful Phillip Island, the title race remains finely poised. Two points separate Martin and Marc Marquez, with Bezzecchi, the underdog, 46 points away. Tantalising.
See you soon, Australia.
