The rain has come to change the cards for the MotoGP Indonesian Grand Prix. This morning the race had already been shortened to the distance of 20 laps (initially 27 were planned), because the problems with the asphalt during the pre-season tests had reappeared at turns 2, 3 and 15.
The real “cold shower” arrived about half an hour before the start, when a real deluge hit the Mandalika circuit. So violent that it was feared that the race could not even be played. Shortly before 4pm local time, 9am in Italy, the rain, however, decreased its intensity and so the race was able to start, giving many surprises.
The most important is the name of the winner, because Miguel Oliveira made the KTM start of the season even more magical. The Portuguese signed his fourth victory in the premier class, unleashing a truly masterful performance.
Starting very well from the third row, he immediately set out in pursuit of Fabio Quartararo’s Yamaha and Jack Miller’s Ducati. Both he and the Australian had an easy enough time to overtake the world champion in the early stages of the race. Then when he managed to get rid of “Jackass” too, he set an impressive pace, managing to make the void behind him.
Although he has always been a specialist in the wet, with the passing of the laps Miller instead suffered a decline, which allowed him to recover under Quartararo and the other Ducati of Johann Zarco, who in the meantime had managed to overtake his compatriot.
In this fight the most determined was “El Diablo”, who in the second part of the race found a nice change of pace when the track conditions started to improve. By the time he regained the second position, however, Oliveira was too far away and very much launched towards a well-deserved victory. However, these are 20 very precious points for the Yamaha rider, given that the other candidates for the title have all collected little.
In the end Johann Zarco climbed to the lowest step of the podium, who in the end tried to make up for Quartararo without success, after having broken off a Miller who had to settle for the “wooden medal”. In fifth and sixth position we find the two Suzukis, with Alex Rins who until halfway through the race seemed to be able to have a say about him in the fight for the podium, but then he dropped, just adjusting his teammate Joan Mir.
Despite the 14th place on the grid, Franco Morbidelli managed to pull off a super start and get back on the train of the best. But then his pace stopped and therefore he was unable to do better than seventh place, in front of a Brad Binder who this time struggled much more than his teammate in the wet. However, the framework for KTM remains idyllic, with the leadership in the Constructors’ classification, but also the South African second in the World Championship and Oliveira fourth.
At the head of the World Championship there is always Enea Bastianini, who reached 30 points thanks to 11th place. The Gresini Racing driver got a bad start from the second row, but then he showed off a great comeback. In the final he seemed to be able to take home eighth place as well, but then he struggled to get the better of Darryn Binder, who signed his first top 10 in MotoGP. At that juncture, Aleix Espargaro also took advantage of it, to overtake both of them and bring his Aprilia to ninth place.
We now come to the really painful notes of this Sunday and one cannot but start from Pecco Bagnaia, who after two races finds himself with just one point in the standings. The Ducati rider made a set-up choice aimed at a more important improvement of the track and paid for it at a very high price, finishing 15th, even behind Luca Marini’s other Ducati, 14th. All this after a bailout at the first corner, which was almost a miracle. A maneuver that Jorge Martin did not manage, as he ended up wheels in the air at the same point.
Honda’s Sunday was also disastrous: the best of the RC213Vs at the finish was that of Pol Espargaro in 12th position, but also the absence of Marc Marquez, forced to raise the white flag after a terrible fall in the Warm-Up, weighs heavily. in which he remedied a head injury that also forced him to go to the hospital for a CT scan, which fortunately turned out to be negative.
Unfortunately, the other Italian drivers did not go well either, with Fabio Di Giannantonio and Marco Bezzecchi remaining out of the points, respectively in 18th and 20th position. Andrea Dovizioso instead retired due to a technical problem.
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