Marc Márquez said that there were seven finals for the MotoGP title, and with two of them completed, the distance between him and Jorge Martín remains the same. Two points separate Aprilia from Madrid, once again the leader of the competition, from Ducati from Catalonia. They are the same ones that distanced them when they arrived at the Indonesian GP. The victory in Mandalika this Sunday went to Marco Bezzecchi, who is still in contention, third in the championship, 46 points away when 37 are distributed each weekend and there are still 185 at stake. The Italian achieved victory number 300 for his country in the premier category and led the Aprilia team on the track, accompanied on the podium by Raúl Fernández with two broken fingers on his hand and Martín who knew how to make good third place to regain the lead lost the day before. The defender of the crown could only be sixth, also surpassed by Ai Ogura and Pedro Acosta.
Despite the equality at the top of the table, the two Spanish champions have not yet forgotten Bezzecchi who dominated the start of the campaign with authority and now registers his fifth victory of the season, which comes four months after his previous victory in the Italian GP. During his journey through the desert, the man from Rimini suffered falls, mistakes, anger and calamities of all kinds, including when he crashed and threw Fernández during the sprint on Saturday in Indonesia, during an accordion while braking in the first corner.
Bez did not fail this Sunday, decisive and very fast after surviving the wake of the Madrid-based Trackhouse Aprilia in the initial stages of the test and carefully preparing a lethal overtake on lap 19, right in that first corner that was so delicate for both of them, who had a fight even during the warm-up prior to this Sunday's event. After overtaking the pole-sitter, who did quite a bit given his poor physical condition – it was incredible to be able to brake safely with the fractured index finger he uses to do so – Bezzecchi escaped in the lead and crossed the checkered flag with more than four seconds ahead of his companions on the podium.
"I had been chasing this result for a while, ever since I screwed up and broke myself at Sachsenring. We deserved this victory, especially my team that has supported me during these bad months," agreed the winner of the event, who broke his collarbone in Germany and has taken a while to get back to himself. Some smiled more and others less, but everyone was satisfied under the humid heat on the paradise island of Lombok.
Martin the first. "I gave my all, and Marco and Raúl had something more this weekend. I tried to stay calm, and in the last laps I suffered with my physical condition. But we continued in the battle and chained three consecutive podiums. I only know that this championship will be very tough, the lead comes and goes, but the important thing will be to stay in the fight," concluded the 2024 world champion. His team only put one message on the board: Focus, concentrate.
The same philosophy that Márquez maintained to sign a draw on the circuit that worried him most in this final stretch of the World Cup. "If you had told me on Thursday that I didn't lose points with Martín and only three with Bezzecchi, I would have signed ahead. I have managed the risk and benefit, and I have seen that it was not enough. I have tried to hold on close to Ogura and Acosta, in case something happened between them, but today the idea was to survive," he pointed out. It is the first time that the seven-time champion has finished the grand prix in his five visits.
At the start, Bezzecchi took first braking at the finish line, but Fernández did not give up and regained the lead immediately in the second corner. Márquez placed third and Martín had to swallow, losing one place and falling to sixth place, forced to come back and overtake his great rival for the title to rescue the lead in the table. The Spaniard from Madrid was excellent in overtaking, and quickly accounted for Fabio Di Giannantonio to place himself in the wake of the defender of the crown and overtake him with a magnificent braking rush on the third lap.
With the podium secured, and riding in no man's land, he limited himself to not making mistakes while the group stalked Márquez from behind. First it was Acosta who defeated the current champion, then Ogura caught up with him. The 93rd did enough to save a sixth place that could be worth its weight in gold in the battle for the championship. He came here with the intention of losing as little ground as possible, and he complied to the letter. Not a point lost. There are five finals left, and the World Cup is still within reach.
