MARQUEZ WINS MANDALIKA SPRINT AND TAKES CHAMPIONSHIP LEAD AFTER APRILIA DRAMA

Fabio Di Giannantonio returned to the podium in Mandalika, finishing third in the sprint after qualifying in the same position. It was his first podium in more than three months and the first for him and VR46 since the Assen sprint. The result came on his 28th birthday.

The Italian said the team had used the previous weekend’s post-race review for a thorough analysis, and welcomed the progress: “The positive thing is that we’re back where we want to be!” But he felt he had left more on the table. “I’m self-critical and I believe I could have got more out of it,” he said.

Di Giannantonio missed his braking point at the start, allowing Jorge Martin and Ai Ogura through. His start, alongside Marc Marquez’s, helped bring four bikes together at Turn 1, where Marco Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandez went down in a chain reaction. Bezzecchi, who had qualified second, described it as “a normal racing incident”, saying riders often have to adjust their lines when they arrive close together. He said he felt contact before crashing, adding: “That’s racing.”

Fernandez was angry after the fall and directed criticism at Bezzecchi. The Italian said he had only been trying to find his braking and turning point, not fight Fernandez for position. “If Raul is angry, I’m sorry, but honestly, he touched me,” Bezzecchi said. He added that he understood the initial reaction, joking: “I don’t know anyone who knows more about these things than me.”

Di Giannantonio spent most of the sprint behind Ogura, before Martin’s late problems lifted him to third. Martin had taken the lead after the opening-corner crashes and built a sizeable gap over Marquez. But a front-tyre pressure reading below the required range forced him to let Marquez past on lap nine. Martin said he tried to warm the tyre by loading the front more, but could not get the pressure into range. He then stayed close to Marquez in the hope of attacking late, before a mistake two laps from the finish cost him further places. He crossed the line fourth, behind Marquez, Ogura and Di Giannantonio, and surrendered the championship lead.

Martin said he did not blame Aprilia, rejecting the idea that the team had deliberately chosen a low starting pressure. “We never take a risk with tyre pressure,” he said, adding that humidity and changing conditions might have played a part. Aprilia will investigate why the calculation was wrong. Martin felt a small adjustment could have made the difference: “Maybe today I could have won with 0.1 bar more without getting into trouble.”

The Spaniard also nearly crashed while following Marquez through Turn 11, losing ground before catching him again. Despite the result, he said he felt fast and competitive, and believed the hard work of building a lead had already been done. “I had to just control the race,” he said. “If my tyre pressure is below the required level, I have to wait for the other riders.” He expects Fernandez and Bezzecchi to be strong in the Grand Prix, but believes he can fight for the podium.

Bezzecchi’s crash left him 59 points behind the new championship leader, Martin, and 55 behind his Aprilia team-mate. Di Giannantonio remained sixth in the championship with 237 points, 19 ahead of Fernandez and nine behind Ogura.

The VR46 rider said the team should take pride in the result but was already looking ahead: “We’re hungry. We have to be proud of what we achieved today, but we’re not finished. Tomorrow we go again.” The Indonesian Grand Prix is a home event for the team’s title sponsor, Pertamina.