Bagnaia halves gap after Martin suffers Sprint slip in latest title twist

Francesco Bagnaia won the Indonesian GP sprint in dominant fashion after inheriting the lead from pole-sitter Jorge Martin.

Championship leader Martin got off to a great start until he threw away the lead on the first lap, tumbling down the order and settling for zero points.

Enea Bastianini worked his way up to second place after a feisty battle with Marc Marquez, inserting himself directly into the title fight.

Marquez earned his seventh sprint podium of the season after climbing from 12th to third in an excellent race to redeem his qualifying crashes.

Pecco’s win blows the title fight wide open, halving the points gap to Martin in a dreamy redemption victory for the Italian reigning champion.

The huge mistake from Martin left the win up for grabs as Bagnaia, Bastianini, and Marquez all stormed around Mandalika searching for crucial points in the Riders’ Standings.

In spite of a perfect start, Martin made a fatal error in the opening lap when he ran wide heading into Turn 16 and lost control of his bike.

All hopes of pulling away with the title lead have been lost as Martin settled for tenth place, failing to score a single point in the sprint after dominating the weekend so far.

The reigning champion found himself in the perfect spot, inheriting the lead and putting 12 points on the head of Martin as he cruised to victory.

Bagnaia said: “Everybody knows how important it was to gain points, we gained 12 so thanks to the mistake from Jorge we are close back again.

“From the start of the weekend, it hasn’t been an ideal weekend for us and I struggled a bit.

“During the qualifying this morning and FP2, and in the race I started to learn more about what to do to be fast.

“The last sector when I saw Jorge crash I just said ‘okay I have to push here’.

“But I’m very happy, thanks to my team always doing a perfect job.

“Tomorrow will be tough but in any case I’m happy for today.”

Despite Bagnaia’s cruise to victory, competition in Bastianini and Marquez is fierce as the two riders climb up the ranks to insert themselves in the title fight.

Marc Marquez got off to an excellent start, climbing nine places on the opening lap as his start on the clean side of the track helped him up the field.

The eight-time world champion pulled off a clean race to redeem his qualifying crashes, climbing to third after putting pressure on Marco Bezzecchi who crashed out mid-race.

Marquez earned his seventh sprint podium of the season, earning crucial points in the title fight to his nearest rival Bastianini.

Marquez said: “I mean, the Q2 is a nightmare for me at the moment.

“But still, we keep working and trying to understand what’s going on, especially with the rear push to the front.

“The race suddenly, when the tyres started to drop I felt better and better.

“It’s true in the last laps I saw that Pecco increased the pace but Enea was coming fast and after that qualifying/practice, third position on the podium was more than better.”

A brilliant performance from Bastianini gave him an advantage on Marquez, besting the Spaniard for second place while edging him in the Riders’ Standings.

Bastianini was looking as quick as can be, but could not reach Bagnaia in the final few moments of the sprint race despite setting the fastest lap across the pack.

Bastianini claimed that he needed just one more lap to catch Pecco, but will prove his pace in the feature race tomorrow.

When the eight-time world champion crashed twice during qualifying and settled for a 12th place starting position the grid, a podium was far out of the picture.

Marquez initially hoped to score a fourth or fifth place finish during the sprint, but fought his way up to a podium finish once again.

The Spaniard earned his seventh sprint podium of the season in glorious fashion, starting off with a strong opening lap that saw him make up nine places.

Marquez jumped a number of riders then set his sights on the Italians ahead going into the second lap, but it really didn’t take long at all to make his mark.

He put Marco Bezzecchi under severe pressure, forcing him to trip up and make a mistake that saw him fall out of the podium contention as Marquez inherited his second place.

If not for Enea Bastianini who was blisteringly fast, Marquez could have retained his second position but a third place finish was more than enough for a 12th-place starter.

1/13 MARTIN LOSES IT AGAIN – Jorge Martin repeats his Mandalika mistake and loses his so-far perfect start at Turn 16, gifting the lead to Pecco Baganaia.

5/13 BAGANAIA LEADS WHILE MARQUEZ CHASES – Pecco Bagnaia leads the pack around Mandalika but Marc Marquez charges through the field on a brilliant climb to redeem his qualifying crashes.

8/13 BEZZECCHI TRIPS UP – Marco Bezzecchi loses his second place slot on the grid and promotes Marc Marquez to his position, ready to hunt down Bagnaia but Enea Bastianini lingers behind.

11/13 BASTIANINI JUMPS MARQUEZ – Enea Bastianini pulls off a great overtake on Marc Marquez to climb to second place and set his sights on Bagnaia.

13/13 BAGNAIA WINS THE INDONESIAN SPRINT – Francesco Bagnaia wins the Indonesian GP sprint in dominant fashion after inheriting the lead from pole-sitter Jorge Martin.