Bagnaia and the Ducati Lenovo Team on the podium in third place at Mandalika Circuit. Bastianini crashes out of the encounter
• Four Ducati machines in the race top 5: Jorge Martín takes the win aboard the Desmosedici GP of Pramac Racing Team, with teammate Franco Morbidelli fourth ahead of Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Racing Team)
Francesco Bagnaia and the Ducati Lenovo Team have scored a third-place finish in the 27-lap, Indonesian Grand Prix Race, which was contested today at the Mandalika Internaional Circuit. Enea Bastianini crashed out of third position.
Bagnaia did not have the easiest of starts to the encounter but still managed to hold on to fourth place at turn one. The reigning world champion then ran wide at turn 16 during the opening lap, dropping two positions in the process. Pecco managed the situation well as he stayed in touch with Morbidelli and Bezzecchi until the final stages of the race. As he moved up to fifth following his teammate’s crash, Bagnaia then overtook Bezzecchi with five laps left, before getting the better of Morbidelli on the following lap. He then pulled away on his opponents to cross the finish line a lonely third.
Bastianini moved off well from the second row and made his way up to second position. The Ducati rider number 23 tried to stay on Martín’s tail in the opening moments of the encounter but eventually lost ground and dropped down to fifth. From lap nine onwards, Enea got up to speed and eventually elevated himself to third position, with the gap to the leaders that got smaller and smaller as the laps went by. Moments after setting the new race lap record in 1:30.539secs on lap 20, he crashed out of contention at turn one.
As the fifteenth Grand Prix of the season draws to a close, Bagnaia sits second in the championship standings with a 21-point gap from the leader Martín. Bastianini is still third, albeit now 75 points in arrears. The Ducati Lenovo Team leads the team standings with 636 points, with Ducati already the winner of the constructors’ championship.
The Ducati Lenovo Team will be back in action on Friday at Japan’s Twin Ring Motegi for the sixteenth event of the season.
Francesco Bagnaia (#1 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 3rd
“Overall it was a positive weekend as we took back some points in the standings. I didn’t have the best of starts as the rear was spinning and the front-end lifted up; I wasn’t too quick on lap one and it cost me a couple of positions. I struggled a bit riding-wise behind Bezzecchi: it took me several laps to overtake the latter, while it was easier with Franco due to the fact that we have the same technical package, so I could predict his moves a bit better. It was a difficult weekend but I’m happy anyway, as we managed to finish on the podium.”
Enea Bastianini (#23 Ducati Lenovo Team) – DNF
“Unfortunately I was too fast entering turn one. The goal for today was to take the win, but I struggled in the early part of the race; I lost the front on several occasions, and I wasn’t able to be as quick as I wanted. With ten laps in, the situation improved a lot: the bike was more stable, and this allowed me to open the throttle in a much more decisive way. I lost a little bit of time in trying to overtake Franco (Morbidelli), but once I got clear track ahead, the gap to the frontrunners kept getting smaller. Then I lost the front. With the pace I had, I think I could have caught Acosta, although I believe Martín was out of reach.”
