MotoGP Indonesia results, Grand Prix - Unsustainable

The 15th round of the 2023 MotoGP World Championship takes place this weekend on the island of Lombok in Indonesia. This page will be updated with MotoGP Indonesia results throughout the weekend.

Overview

Grand Prix - Bagnaia back on top as Martin blows commanding lead

Sprint - Martin charges through to take fourth straight Saturday win

Qualifying - Title contenders falter as Marini makes history for pole

Practice - Espargaro fastest as Aprilias shine in low grip, long corners

Grand Prix

Jorge Martin started the MotoGP Indonesian Grand Prix as the heavy favourite for victory, despite starting from sixth place, but a crash handed the advantage elsewhere,and Francesco Bagnaia was able to pick up the pieces for his first win in two months.

Although Martin was the favourite, starting from the back of the second row meant that he had work to do to make his superior pace count, and he did all of that work on the start as he made the holeshot.

It was a good opening lap for Francesco Bagnaia, who was aggressive early on despite his choice of hard front, medium rear tyres, and was sixth by the end of the first lap.

More progress was made by Bagnaia when Brad Binder took out Luca Marini at turn 10 on the second lap, which got Binder a long lap penalty and put the reigning champion in fourth.

Martin’s early pace was strong, and he was pulling clear. Maverick Vinales in second place was unable to hold the #89’s pace, and by the start of lap five there was over one second between the two leaders. The positive for Vinales was his gap back to Bagnaia, who by now had found his way into third place past Fabio Quartararo, which stood at 1.5 seconds.

Bagnaia, having found his way up to third, which included a pass on Aleix Espargaro on the first lap, was now under pressure from the #41, who had chosen the soft-compound rear tyre against the advice of Michelin and was trying to make its initial grip advantage count in the first part of the race.

Things started to swing back to Bagnaia’s favour after lap 10. Espargaro’s rear tyre started to drop, and he himself dropped to over one second behind Bagnaia and into the clutches of Quartararo. For Vinales, his gap to Bagnaia was under one second by lap 12.

Bagnaia’s battle with Vinales became for the victory on lap 14 when Martin crashed out of a three-second lead. In 2013, when Jorge Lorenzo crashed in Assen and broke his collarbone, it was because he rode with too much confidence. Marco Bezzecchi's recent surgery meant that Lorenzo's 2013 Dutch TT heroics were in mind this weekend, but it was Martin who exposed the confidence aspect of that weekend. His confidence had been growing since his treble in Misano. Since then, he had won all but one race (the Indian Grand Prix when he chose the wrong rear tyre and suffered from dehydration), and by lap 14 of the Indonesian Grand Prix, it had reached an unsustainable level. 

With 10 laps to go, Bagnaia was within one second of Vinales, and the battle for the win was on. It was an odd one, considering the relatively opposite  weekends the two had faced, with Vinales and Aprilia excelling, and Bagnaia struggling for performance, pace, and confidence throughout.

Fabio Quartararo began to catch the leaders on lap 19, and Bagnaia made his move to the front a lap later, and immediately checked out.

Quartararo was all over Vinales with six laps to go, and still faster than Bagnaia despite the clear track in front of the Italian, and the pressure from the Yamaha rider seemed to inspire Vinales to a late rally, and his deficit to Bagnaia began to decrease again.

With three laps to go it was nothing but a three-way fight for the win. It was Bagnaia who led onto the final tour and, although he rolled off somewhat in the penultimate corner that had caught him out in one high-pressure scenario already this weekend, he was able to hold onto the win.

It was Bagnaia’s first victory since his dominating triumph in Austria, and means he regains the championship lead, having lost it yesterday, to the tune of 18 points over Martin.

Vinales was able to close in towards the end, but he spent the final lap defending from Quartararo - which he did successfully. Vinales took second place, and Quartararo secured third.

Fabio Di Giannantonio took his best MotoGP result in fourth place, ahead of Marco Bezzecchi who passed Brad Binder for fifth on the final lap. 

After his long lap penalty for taking out Marini, Binder was handed a second trip through the long lap loop for riding into Miguel Oliveira. After that, he was able to get back to fifth place, but the aforementioned Bezzecchi’s late charge pushed him back to sixth - but Binder was the top KTM rider nonetheless.

The second KTM rider was Jack Miller in seventh, and the other two Austrian manufacturer riders - Augusto Fernandez and Pol Espargaro - both crashed out. The top 10 was completed by Enea Bastianini (8th, and showing decent late pace that somewhat showed signs of his key characteristic from 2022); Alex Rins in an impressive ninth (and top Honda after Marc Marquez crashed out of 10th); and Aleix Espargaro, whose soft-compound rear tyre gamble evidently did not work.

Full MotoGP results from the Indonesian Grand Prix are below.

2023 MotoGP Indonesia Results | Grand Prix

Sprint

The MotoGP Sprint in Indonesia was once again dominated by Jorge Martin, but this time via a charge through the field rather than a lights-to-flag demonstration.

From pole position, Luca Marini made the holeshot, but Maverick Vinales soon grabbed the lead, and began to escape.

Things were not as good for Vinales’ Aprilia teammate, Aleix Espargaro, who made a bad start and then cleaned out Brad Binder as he tried to make his way back towards the front.

Luca Marini had been in second place behind Vinales for the first laps, but then he was passed by Martin - who had made an okay start but really made his race count in the change of direction between turns 11 and 12 - at turn 10.

Martin then had eight laps to chase down Vinales, and he made the move again at turn 10 on lap nine.

Martin’s hunt of the #12 RS-GP has dragged Marini and Marco Bezzecchi with him. Marini was able to swiftly pass Vinales, and then closed down Martin, before making a mistake on the penultimate lap and letting the Spaniard off the hook.

Martin, then, charged to a fourth Sprint win in a row, while Marini and eventually Bezzecchi were able to make it an all-Ducati podium, despite their respective broken collarbones.

Maverick Vinales (top Aprilia) was fourth, ahead of Fabio Quartararo (5th, top Yamaha), Fabio Di Giannantonio (6th), Enea Bastianini (7th), and Francesco Bagnaia, whose eighth place means he now trails Martin by seven points in the riders’ standings.

Jack Miller (9th, top KTM) and Miguel Oliveira (10th) completed the top 10.

Full MotoGP results from the Indonesian Sprint are below.

2023 MotoGP Indonesia Results | Sprint

Qualifying

MotoGP qualifying in Indonesia was notable both for the poor result of championship leader Francesco Bagnaia, who failed to make it out of Q1, and for the pole position of Luca Marini.

Q1 in Indonesia was potentially one of the most pivotal sessions of the season so far, in terms of the championship battle, as Francesco Bagnaia finished only third-fastest to miss out on advancing to Q2. Instead, Luca Marini and Enea Bastianini advanced to the shootout.

In Q2, Bagnaia's primary title rival, Jorge Martin, was unable to maximise the damage on the reigning champion, as he only qualified sixth after a crash. Ahead of him, Luca Marini set the first ever 1:29 lap time around the Mandalika circuit to take pole position.

Behind Marini were the two Aprilias, who have been the fastest this weekend, with Maverick Vinales edging out Aleix Epsargaro in an Aprilia 2-3.

Fabio Quartararo (top Yamaha) was fourth fastest, and will be joined on the second row by Brad Binder (top KTM) and the aforementioned Martin; while Fabio Di Giannantonio will start ahead of his replacement for next year, Marc Marquez (top Honda) as they qualified seventh and eighth, respectively, with Marco Bezzecchi, who also crashed in Q2, in ninth place.

Jack Miller completed the qualifying top 10, with Enea Bastianini 11th and Miguel Oliveira 12th. Bastianini has a long lap penalty to serve in the Grand Prix for his role in the first turn crash at Barcelona.

Full MotoGP results from qualifying in Indonesia are below.

2023 MotoGP Indonesia Results | Qualifying

Practice

Full MotoGP results from Practice in Indonesia are below.

2023 MotoGP Indonesia Results | Practice