Francesco Bagnaia won the MotoGP World Championship Tissot Sprint race at Indonesia’s Mandalka International Street Circuit on Saturday. Riding his Lenovo Team Ducati Desmosedici GP24, the two-time winner and world champion won the 13-lap race by 0.107 seconds.
Bagnaia’s teammate Innea Bastianini finished second.
After crashing twice in qualifying on Saturday morning, six-time MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez scored third on his Gresini Racing Ducati.
Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team Ducati rider Marco Bezecchi was fourth.
Prima Pramac Racing’s Franco Morbidelli made it a top-five sweep for Ducati.
World Championship points leader George Martin crashed, crashed and finished 10th – out of the points.
Bagnaya’s victory, combined with Martin’s crash, allowed Bagnaya to reduce the points deficit from 24 to 12.
MotoGP points after the sprint race
Further, from Dorna’s press release:
Martin’s mistake halved his championship lead and put Bagnaya Mandalika on the line.
Another big change in the Tissot Sprint will see Bagnaia, Bastianini and Marquez close after the close of the year on Saturday.
Saturday, September 28, 2024
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) returned to glory in the Tissot Spritz at the Indonesian Pertamina Grand Prix, creating another by taking the lead from reigning champion Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) in a shock clash in the 13-lap shootout. Title fight twist. A 12-point win for Bagnaya would halve the gap between the two ahead of the Grand Prix.
In that drama, Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) made a fierce late charge, coming home 0.107 seconds clear of his teammate, attacking and passing Marc Marquez in the final sprint of the season (Gresini Racing MotoGP™). That would make all three drivers as Martin looks to bounce back on Sunday.
As the lights faded, Martin got off to a dream start, trying to get ahead of the incumbent Bagnaya, who braved the outside line to turn 1 of the race. #89 pulled the pin on the opening lap, but Marc Marquez made ground. After qualifying 12th on the grid at the start – cutting the inside with razor precision.
Drama struck early, but Martin suddenly dropped out of the lead at the tricky turn 16, a near carbon copy of Bastianini’s qualifying. Despite the championship leader going up and recovering some points, Bagnaia took the lead to take the game to that top 12 points.
The battle on the podium started in earnest, Marco Bezecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GAASGAS Tech3) took out the gloves. The #93s soon made a move on Acosta on lap 3, as Acosta was next threatened by Bastianini and moved into the top three. That pushed the rookie back to fifth.
Bezeci was heart in mouth as he chased down Bagnaya, the #72 moving all the way up and down, avoiding the future world champion by millimetres.
Meanwhile, Martin continued his recovery, breaking into the top 15 and then 12 top 10s after being moved by Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). But the points were out of reach after he got caught behind several other riders looking to make progress and got some elbows from Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing).
Bagnaia pounced with enough breathing space as Bastiani began to make inroads on Marc Marquez in the closing laps. Setting his sights on the move with three laps to go, ‘The Beast’ looked for an opportunity on lap 12 and kept the move on lap 10, job done. The Italian was second, Bagnaia eight tenths further up the road.
It seemed like more than enough, but it came close. Bagnaia kept his cool on the final lap but Bastianini was on a roll, closing in on his team-mate to cross from the back of the tenth. The Ducati Lenovo team is 1-2, a 12-point advantage for Bagnaia as well as boosted by that winning feeling… and a warning shot from Bastianini to Sunday’s rivals. Marc Marquez completed the podium, unable to hang onto the pace of #23.
Behind the leaders was Bezeci, who had a good pace but was unable to recover the ground he lost after his mistake. The #72 had a comfortable advantage over Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing) but managed to get the jump on the #21 Acosta, who finished sixth. The rookie crossed the line less than half a second ahead of Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing).
Meanwhile, CASTOL Honda LCR’s Johan Zarco finished an impressive eighth. It was an outstanding ride from the Frenchman who crossed the line in front of Fabio Di Gianntonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) who took the final points. Martin was unable to finish higher than 10th with no points and a 9.104 just shy of victory.
Fabio Quattararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) was ruled out of the second row start after an elbow problem, but the Frenchman will be looking for further reward for his strong pace on Sunday.
Back to Bagnaia. Martin’s championship dropped to 12 points. Marquez in the mix… and Bastianini ready to unleash the beast. You won’t want to miss the Indonesian GP, so tune in Sunday at 15:00 local time (UTC +8) to find out who heads to Japan on top.
