MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

The premier class show in Mandalika started with a traditional dance on the grid and ended with a traditional Martin parade to the top step of the podium. The poleman rode a faultless race, out of reach of any rival and avenged his sprint mistake with a return to the winning ways. Martin’s advantage at the chequered flag was almost a second and a half over Pedro Acosta, who in turn performed wonderfully to secure second place – despite a tyre pressure investigation clouding his podium celebrations. Pecco Bagnaia’s troubles off the line continued but the world champion kept his cool and recovered to take the final place on the podium. 

Martin had no such trouble, making a great launch from pole to stay in control at the first corner, while Enea Bastianini and Acosta quickly got ahead of Bagnaia. Front row starter Marco Bezzecchi dropped to 5^th, with Franco Morbidelli climbing into 6^th and Marc Marquez attacking Fabio Quartararo for 7^th position early on. Bagnaia’s early struggles continued, both Bezzecchi and Morbidelli getting past into turn 16 and the world champion dropped to 6^th, under the watchful eye of Marc Marquez. Fabio Di Giannantonio, Johann Zarco and Maverick Viñales made the early top 10, while Quartararo faded to 13^th. A crash at turn two for Jack Miller took himself, as well as Aleix Espargaro, Alex Marquez and Luca Marini out of the race on the opening lap. 

By lap 3, Martin had stretched an eight-tenth advantage over the pursuit led by Bastianini and by the time Acosta took over at the end of that lap, the gap grew to 1.3 seconds. Morbidelli then had a go at his compatriot at the start of lap 5, demoting Bastianini to 4^th, Bezzecchi taking his turn a couple laps later. Bastianini found himself ahead of his teammate, who was yet to get involved in the battle at the front, but then Marquez and Di Giannantonio dragged him into their paint-swapping match, which dropped the trio one second back. Di Giannantonio’s soft tyres were more helpful at that early stage and it allowed him to harass Marquez at will. Meanwhile, Brad Binder had progressed from 19^th on the grid to lead the next group two seconds down the road. 

Things were quiet at the front by lap 8, Martin still the quickest of the lot and maintaining his advantage of over a second on Acosta, who in turn dropped Morbidelli a second back. The Italian had compatriots Bezzecchi and Bastianini in tow, with Bagnaia lingering about eight tenths back but was finally able to pick up the pace, while Marquez and Di Giannantonio were embroiled in a quick-fire battle. By the time Marquez was released by a crash for Di Giannantonio on lap 9, the Spaniard was over a second and a half behind Bagnaia. The threat from behind was limited, with the Binder group over two seconds back, so the Gresini man had room to try to chase. 

Back at the front, Acosta was picking up the pace and had closed down the gap to almost half a second by the halfway point of proceedings, but Martin promptly got the message and was able to keep the rookie at arm’s length over the next few laps. Morbidelli was circulating 1.5 seconds back, but his closest challenger was now Bastianini, who finally demoted Bezzecchi. Bagnaia had closed in to seven tenths behind his compatriots, with no pressure from behind, as Marquez’s Ducati decided to burst into flames on lap 12 and the Spaniard had to pull over. The next battle was taking place six seconds down the road, where Binder was challenged by Viñales for 7^th position, with Zarco and Quartararo completing the top 10 positions. 

By lap 17, Martin had grown his gap to Acosta back to one second, the rookie secure in second position as the burgeoning battle between Morbidelli and Bastianini lost them further ground. The Beast was eventually successful at turn 12 and he claimed 3^rd position with 11 laps to go but found himself 2.3 seconds behind Acosta. Morbidelli could not retaliate this time around and was left to contend with pals Bezzecchi and Bagnaia for the final 10 laps. With clear air around him, Bastianini quickly picked up the pace to string together a bunch of personal best laps in the mid 1:30s, allowing him to make impressive progress in reeling in the leaders. The gap to Acosta rapidly reduced to 1.5 seconds and things looked promising with 8 laps left, but the Beast threw it all away at the first corner, just after setting the fastest lap of the race. 

With Martin and Acosta breathing a sigh of relief at the front, Bagnaia suddenly found himself in podium contention, but having to find a way past Bezzecchi and Morbidelli first. The VR46 rider was easy prey after running wide at turn 10 and Bagnaia claimed 4^th with 6 laps to go. Third place was not much more of a challenge, turn 10 once again the scene of the crime, placing Bagnaia on the podium one lap later. Morbidelli and Bezzecchi were quickly distanced and spent the remaining handful of laps keeping each other company. 

Martin cruised to victory two seconds ahead of Acosta, with Bagnaia rescuing third and Morbidelli defending 4^th from Bezzecchi. Four seconds later, Viñales took a solid 6^th place, with Quartararo equalling his best result of the season in 7^th place. Binder robbed Zarco of 8^th on the final lap, but the Frenchman still scores Honda’s best result of the season. Raul Fernandez completed the top 10 ahead of Takaaki Nakagami, but the results were quickly called into doubt by tyre pressure investigations for Acosta, Binder and Nakagami – which are yet to be concluded. 

Martin’s triumph helped him rebuild a more comfortable buffer of 21 points over Bagnaia, while Bastianini and Marquez’s tough day at the office pretty much rules them out of the title battle. The Italian is now 75 points behind the leader, with Marquez 78 points back. 

UPDATE

After the race, the FIM Stewards announced they were investigating Pedro Acosta, Takaaki Nakagami, and Brad Binder. The investigation of Acosta revealed that he had a leaking wheel rim, and that therefore Acosta had not broken the tyre pressure regulations. 

UPDATE 2

The investigations into Nakagami and Binder were also completed. It was determined that Binder did not infringe the tyre pressure regulations, but Nakagami was below the minimum, and was given a 16-second penalty. 

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