The second weekend of a 2024 MotoGP triple header pulled the series from eastern Italy all the way to the island of Lombok for the Indonesian Grand Prix and the third edition of the fixture to take place at the Mandalika circuit.
The Grand Prix started brightly, both for the climate and the team’s possibilities. Veijer was immediately down to lap record pace and set his P1 effort by over a tenth of a second as the field bunched up tightly. Suzuki was swift: he ranked P10 Friday afternoon and 0.7 from his younger teammate. The heat and sunshine carried on into Saturday and so did Collin’s searing speed. The Dutchman completed Q2 in a decent 2nd place for the middle of the front row as the Japanese confirmed a view from the top of the third row in 7th.
Mandalika stretched around the costal setting with a 4km layout and with 17 corners to negotiate. Moto3 spun around the course for 20-laps on Sunday morning and the main candidates for the rostrum broke away in a ten-rider pack that filtered down to eight by the last five laps. Veijer led for the most part (the ninth race he has fronted in 2024) while Suzuki burst through to hit the top five. Unfortunately, Collin’s race ended with a fast crash at Turn 8 with nine laps to go, luckily though the youngster was uninjured. As usual in Moto3 the decisive run through the final two circulations sorted potential for the podium. Suzuki passed the flag in 7th, just 1.3 seconds from the winner.
MotoGP now rushes onto Motegi for the Japanese Grand Prix. Five rounds remain this season and Veijer is 4th in the Moto3 points table; just 10 from P2. Suzuki is 13th. Husqvarna IntactGP hold steady in 3rd from the 13 teams in the category.
Tatsuki Suzuki, 7th: “We were really competitive and strong at the beginning of the race but then during the middle, and while in the fight, another rider pushed me off line and I almost crashed. I lost a lot of time there, a shame. At the end my pace suffered a bit but I could manage the top ten. We’ll try to make another step forward in Japan.”
Collin Veijer, DNF: “My start was much better than in previous GPs so I’m happy about that and then I pushed to have the pace I’d shown all weekend. One lap I tried to go a little bit more to maybe have an advantage and made a mistake. It was very stupid. I feel sorry for the team and I’ll try to learn as much as possible from it. Let’s take this information to Japan and we’ll be better there.”
Following the example of his Moto3 teammate, Senna Agius found an effective Moto2™ flow around Mandalika on Friday. The Australian was 7th quickest and 0.3 from provisional Pole. Darryn Binder was also in the groove and with P9 from Practice 1 was optimistic of decent gains for Saturday. Both riders threaded through to the Q2 session and with the Indonesian sun beating down on the asphalt that became grippier and with more possibilities for traction. By the end of the qualification session Binder locked-in 13th while Agius was 16th. The top fifteen riders were divided by less than half a second.
Moto2 hammered the Mandalika curves for two more laps compared to Moto3. Senna was upended in the first minute when a tangle in traffic put him on the ground at Turn 10. He tried to restart but was forced to retire. Darryn nursed his tyres and kept a cool head to try for the top five and with exciting podium potential. He managed P5 by the finish line and was less and a second from the rostrum for his best classification of the season.
Darryn Binder, 5th: “I’m really happy with the whole weekend in general and finishing P5 is the cherry on top. We have been making steps forward and carried on the progress here. Starting P13 helped and I am still working on the Quali. I had the pace in the race today but I was still missing that last little bit to really fight with the guys for the podium. We’re getting there. I want to finish the season as strong as possible.”
Senna Agius, DNF: “Not much to say. I had a really good start but unfortunately came together with some other riders in what was a tight squeeze for Turn 10. I’m feeling quite gutted because my package with the bike this weekend was good and we had made a step. It was my first time here in Indonesia and we were competitive. So, disappointed because we could have had a good result today but congrats to Darryn and the other side of the box. With this mentality and with what we have now I think we can be fast at other tracks so I just want to get to Japan and restart as soon as possible.”
Results Moto3 Indonesia Grand Prix
1. David Alonso (COL) CFMOTO 32:57.410, 2. Adrian Fernandez (ESP) Honda +0.085, 4. David Muñoz (ESP) KTM +0.225, 6. Daniel Holgado (ESP) GASGAS +0.862, 7. Tatsuki Suzuki (JPN) Husqvarna +1.300, 11. Jose Antonio Rueda (ESP) KTM +16.770, 14. Joel Esteban (ESP) CFMOTO +17.244, 16. Jacob Roulstone (AUS) GASGAS +26.124, DNF. Collin Veijer (NED) Husqvarna, DNF. Xabi Zurutuza (ESP) KTM
World Championship standings Moto3
1. David Alonso (COL) CFMOTO, 296 points, 2. Daniel Holgado (ESP) GASGAS, 199, 3. Ivan Ortola (ESP) KTM, 191, 4. Collin Veijer (NED) Husqvarna, 189, 8. Jose Antonio Rueda (ESP), KTM, 110, 13. Tatsuki Suzuki (JPN) Husqvarna, 72,15. Jacob Roulstone (AUS) GASGAS, 50, 16. Joel Esteban (ESP) CFMOTO, 44, 22. Xabi Zurutuza (ESP) KTM, 11
Results Moto2 Indonesia Grand Prix
1. Aron Canet (ESP) +0.029 34:41.557, 2. Ai Ogura (JPN) +6.218, 3. Alonso Lopez (ESP) +7.613, 5. Darryn Binder (RSA) Husqvarna +8.097, 7. Izan Guevara (ESP) CFMOTO +10.015, 10. Deniz Öncü (TUR) KTM +14.436, 13. Celestino Vietti (ITA) KTM +18.019, 23. Jake Dixon (GBR) CFMOTO +59.842, DNF. Senna Agius (AUS) Husqvarna
World Championship standings Moto2
1. Ai Ogura (JPN), 208 points, 2. Sergio Garcia (ESP), 166, 3. Aron Canet (ESP), 156, 7. Jake Dixon (GBR) CFMOTO, 130, 8. Celestino Vietti (ITA) KTM, 130, 15. Darryn Binder (RSA) Husqvarna, 49, 16. Senna Agius (AUS) Husqvarna, 47, 18. Izan Guevara (ESP) CFMOTO, 37, 19. Deniz Öncü (TUR) KTM, 33
