Francesco Bagnaia fought through from 13th on the grid to secure victory in a dramatic Indonesian Grand Prix that saw MotoGP points leader Jorge Martin crash from the lead.
Bagnaia managed to get a blinding start from the mid-field to sit in sixth by the end of the opening tour. The Italian then soon moved up to fourth after an incident between pole man Luca Marini and Brad Binder after the latter smashed into the side of the VR46 rider, taking him out of the race.
The reigning world champion then snatched away a rostrum position from Fabio Quaratraro before too long, though by this point title rival Martin was around three seconds ahead of him in the lead after the Pramac rider rocketed to the front from sixth on the grid on the run to the first bend.
Disaster was just around the corner for Martin though after he crashed just past mid-distance at Turn 11 after losing the front of his Ducati.
This moved Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales into the lead and Bagnaia up to the runners-up position, though he began to edge closer as his choice to opt for the more durable hard front tyre began to pay off.
Following several laps of pressuring Vinales, Bagnaia finally managed to slide through into the leadership with just half a dozen laps remaining.
He did his best to manage things over the remaining tours while remaining under siege from Vinales and a charging Fabio Quartararo, Bagnaia eventually taking the chequered flag for his sixth win of 2023 by just 0.306s.
Vinales narrowly held onto second after batting away the advances of Quartararo, the Yamaha rider saving his rubber expertly across the distance, but not quite enough to allow him a safe passage past the Aprilia.
Quartararo’s Indonesian run marked his third rostrum finish of the year, and his second in the past three events as he continues to enjoy a strong conclusion to the term.
Fabio Di Gianantonio enjoyed a spirited comeback following a poor start to claim his best premier class result of fourth for Gresini Ducati, while VR46’s Marco Bezzecchi rounded off the top five as he tried to save his energy across the contest due to the collarbone injury he suffered last week.
Binder meanwhile salvaged sixth despite serving two long-lap penalties across the race. The first came after he was deemed responsible for the clash that took out Marini, while the other came after he fired off Miguel Oliveira at Turn 2 later on.
The South African got the better of factory KTM team-mate Jack Miller for the spot in the closing stanza as he began to fade.
Enea Bastianini posted the fastest lap of the race en route to eighth in the final classification, while LCR’s Alex Rins enjoyed a decent run to ninth in his first outing since June’s Italian GP sprint race.
Aleix Espargaro completed the top ten after a tough day for the Aprilia ace, his gamble of choosing soft tyres for the front and rear costing him a chance at a top five.
Only 14 riders made the finish of the attrition-filled encounter, with Takaaki Nakagami claiming 11th for LCR Honda ahead of RNF Aprilia duo Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez. Franco Morbidelli was the final classified finisher, the Yamaha man taking 14th.
Johann Zarco joined his team-mate on the side-lines after losing the rear of his Desmosedici late on, while factory Honda pair Marc Marquez and Joan Mir crashed early while challenging within the top ten.
Augusto Fernandez and Pol Espargaro also failed to make the end for the GasGas squad, the duo dropping their KTM RC16 machines in the searing heat of Sunday.
Keyword: Bagnaia fights to Indonesian GP win, Martin crashes