Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia earned a close-fought victory in the MotoGP Sprint in Indonesia as Jorge Martin crashed out of a first-lap lead.
Bagnaia’s victory means the gap changes once more in the rider’s standings, as the Italian closes the gap to Martin to just 12 points.
Martin made a good start from pole position, and made it into Turn 1 ahead of Bagnaia, who made a good start from fourth to get ahead of Pedro Acosta and Marco Bezzecchi.
Martin was using his pace advantage to break away from the pack, but a mistake at Turn 16 made him crash, though he would rejoin at the back of the field.
Marc Marquez made a great start from 12th on the grid and was chasing after Acosta and Bezzecchi for the podium. The fight between the pair allowed the Gresini rider to take advantage and get ahead of rookie Acosta.
The leading trio of Bagnaia, Bezzecchi and Marquez traded fastest laps but the gaps between them continued to remain the same, allowing Enea Bastianini a glimmer of hope of a podium.
Bezzecchi looked to have an advantage over Bagnaia, but was sucked into the dirty air of the GP24 and almost tagged the race leader as he ran wide, costing the VR46 rider his chance of a Sprint podium.
Marquez appeared to be struggling to keep pace with the GP24 machines, and a few errors allowed Bastianini to get the run on the Gresini rider and overtake him for second.
It was Bagnaia who took the chequered flag to take the win ahead of teammate Bastianini in second, and Marc Marquez rounded out the podium in third.
Bezzecchi recovered from his mistake to take fourth ahead of Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli in fifth and Pedro Acosta in sixth.
Maverick Vinales finished seventh as Johann Zarco took points for LCR Honda in eighth, with Fabio Di Giannantonio rounding out the Sprint points finishers in ninth.
Championship leader Martin recovered to take 10th but earned no points for his efforts ahead of KTM’s Jack Miller in 11th.
Fabio Quartararo was forced backwards after contact with Morbidelli and finished 12th, ahead of Brad Binder in 13th.
Alex Marquez recovered after a horrible crash in qualifying to take 14th, with Yamaha’s Alex Rins closely behind in 15th.
Aleix Espargaro’s difficult weekend continued as he could only manage 16th in the Sprint race, ahead of Honda duo Takaaki Nakagami in 17th and Luca Marini in 18th.
Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez crashed at the end of Lap 1 but rejoined and finished 19th and last of the finishers.
Repsol Honda’s Joan Mir crashed on Lap 2 and GasGas’ Augusto Fernandez exited the race on Lap 12 and were the only non-finishers of the Sprint.
