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MotoGP Indonesian GP: Bezzecchi fights back to win sprint

Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi scored a sensational MotoGP sprint victory at Mandalika after fighting his way back from a dreadful start. 

The class of the field all weekend, Bezzecchi made life difficult for himself when he battled to get off the line from pole position. He was down in eighth place midway through the first lap as Fermin Aldeguer grabbed the early lead from Pedro Acosta and Trackhouse Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez. 

While Bezzecchi began to work his way back to the sharp end of the field, Acosta could only hang on in second until lap five, when he dropped the factory KTM into the gravel trap. 

Bezzecchi battled for some time to get past Luca Marini (Honda) for fourth place, only clearing his countryman at the same moment Acosta fell. That’s when Bezzecchi, now suddenly third, really got the hammer down and immediately reeled off a pair of fastest laps. 

He hauled in Fernandez quickly enough, passing him on lap eight. That left him five laps in which to catch and pass Aldeguer, who had a lead of more than two seconds at that point. 

Fermin Aldeguer, Gresini Racing (Photo by: Robertus Pudyanto / Getty Images)

This proved no problem for Bezzecchi, who calmly hunted down the Gresini Ducati and barged past him at Turn 10 on the final lap. Aldeguer made a spirited attempt to fight back at the next corner, but the more experienced Bezzecchi was able to hold his new lead to the flag. 

Fernandez completed a solid ride to take a podium ahead of Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) and the factory Hondas of Joan Mir and Marini. The latter, however, was slapped with a tyre pressure penalty after the race, which dropped him out of the points.

That promoted factory Ducati rider Marc Marquez into sixth place. The new world champion, who has struggled for pace all weekend, did show some fight later in the race as he battled with the VR46 Ducati pair of Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Di Giannantonio, eventually winning the scrap.    

Marc's team-mate Francesco Bagnaia was back in familiar 2025 territory. He was woefully off the pace and came home last of the finishers, almost 30 seconds after Bezzecchi.

Despite the factory Ducati team having one of its worst outings of the season on Saturday, the 2025 teams' championship is now in the bag for the squad officially known as Ducati Lenovo Team. 

MotoGP Indonesian GP - Sprint results:

   
1
 - 
5
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Retirement Points
1 Italy M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team 72 Aprilia 13

19'37.047

  171.0   12
2 Spain F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing 54 Ducati 13

+0.157

19'37.204

0.157 170.9   9
3 Spain R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team 25 Aprilia 13

+4.062

19'41.109

3.905 170.4   7
4 Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati 13

+5.832

19'42.879

1.770 170.1   6
5 Spain J. Mir Honda HRC 36 Honda 13

+8.759

19'45.806

2.927 169.7   5
6 Italy L. Marini Honda HRC 10 Honda 13

+9.621

19'46.668

0.862 169.6   4
7 Spain M. Marquez Ducati Team 93 Ducati 13

+9.772

19'46.819

0.151 169.6   3
8 Italy F. Morbidelli Team VR46 21 Ducati 13

+11.980

19'49.027

2.208 169.2   2
9 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46 49 Ducati 13

+12.096

19'49.143

0.116 169.2   1
10 Portugal M. Oliveira Pramac Racing 88 Yamaha 13

+12.988

19'50.035

0.892 169.1    
11 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 13

+13.312

19'50.359

0.324 169.0    
12 Australia J. Miller Pramac Racing 43 Yamaha 13

+15.905

19'52.952

2.593 168.7    
13 Spain A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing 42 Yamaha 13

+16.226

19'53.273

0.321 168.6    
14 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 63 Ducati 13

+29.393

20'06.440

13.167 166.8    
dnf France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 12

+1 Lap

18'19.662

1 Lap 168.9 Retirement  
dnf France J. Zarco Team LCR 5 Honda 9

+4 Laps

13'48.593

3 Laps 168.1 Retirement  
dnf Spain P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 37 KTM 6

+7 Laps

9'42.268

3 Laps 159.5 Retirement  
dnf Italy E. Bastianini Tech 3 23 KTM 2

+11 Laps

3'11.160

4 Laps 161.9 Retirement  
dnf Thailand S. Chantra Team LCR 35 Honda 0

 

    Retirement  
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