MotoGP Indonesia: Miguel Oliveira masters the wet conditions to take victory for KTM

Miguel Oliveira produced a wet-weather masterclass at the Indonesian Grand Prix to secure his fourth MotoGP victory.

Fans were forced to wait an additional 75 minutes for the start of the MotoGP race due to heavy rainfall. Prior to the rain, the race was also shortened from 27 laps to 20 due to safety concerns over the track conditions in the extremely high temperatures. The first Indonesian Grand Prix in 25 years was declared a wet race, with every rider choosing to run the medium front and rear Michelin rain tyres.

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Once the race began, Fabio Quartararo, who started from pole, led into the first corner, with Oliveira jumping from seventh on the grid to third ahead of Jack Miller. Both Oliveira and Miller passed Quartararo at the beginning of lap two, with Miller then taking the lead.

Oliveira and Miller pulled away from the rest of the field, with the former taking the lead at turn 12 on the sixth lap. The Red Bull KTM rider would not be seen again, producing fastest lap after fastest lap to pull over four seconds clear. The Portuguese rider would eventually take the chequered flag with an advantage of 2.205s.

Behind him, Quartararo found some great late-race pace to battle his way back through from fifth. The 2021 champion went down the inside of Johann Zarco at turn one to take third on lap 16, before overtaking Miller at turn 12. Zarco would also get the better of Miller to secure the final spot on the podium.

Miller crossed the line in fourth ahead of the Suzuki pairing of Alex Rins and Joan Mir, with the latter taking his second consecutive sixth-place result. Franco Mordibelli finished in a relatively lonely seventh, but behind him, there was a fantastic battle for eighth which involved both Binder brothers, the Espargaro brothers, Enea Bastianini, Alex Marquez and Luca Marini.

The group of riders would swap positions multiple times, with Brad Binder and Darryn Binder coming extremely close to one another at one stage, with the former forcing his way down the inside of his rookie brother. Eventually, Brad Binder came out on top, with Aleix Espargaro and Darryn Binder completing the top 10.

Bastianini was 11th, whilst Pol Espargaro, Alex Marquez, Luca Marini and Francesco Bagnaia all finished inside the points. It’s another disappointing weekend for 2022 title favourite, Bagnaia only has a single point to his name after the opening two races.

Remarkably, Jorge Martin was the only rider to crash out of the race. The Pramac Racing Ducati rider hit some standing water on the run down to turn one and lost control of his Desmocedici. Martin has no points this season having previously being taken out Bagnaia in Qatar. Andrea Dovizioso retired with a mechanical problem.

 

Oh my word

Marc Márquez was LAUNCHED from his bike during the warm-up session…

One of the biggest highsides we’ve EVER seen! #IndonesianGP pic.twitter.com/d08Ms2Novo

— MotoGP on BT Sport (@btsportmotogp) March 20, 2022

 

Marc Marquez was ruled out of the race after suffering a huge highside during the morning warmup. Marquez was violently thrown off his Repsol Honda RC213V at turn seven and landed heavily on his right side, whilst also taking a hit to the head. Although he was able to walk away, it was clear that the six-time premier class champion was dazed and confused.

Marquez was taken to a local hospital for precautionary checks, and it was later confirmed by Race Direction that the Spaniard had been declared unfit due to a concussion. Marquez missed the final two races of 2021 after suffering a concussion and double vision in a training accident.

After two rounds, Bastianini still leads the championship by two points. Brad Binder is second overall, with Quartararo a further point back in third. Oliveira’s win moves him up into fourth, with Zarco completing the top five in the standings.

Somkiat Chantra became Thailand’s first-ever Grand Prix winner in the Moto2 class. Chantra led from the first corner to the chequered flag in the shortened race. Series leader Celestino Vietti and Aron Canet completed the podium. Sam Lowes came home in fourth, however Jake Dixon, who had taken pole, crashed out at turn 10 on lap six.

In Moto3, Dennis Foggia dominated the race to take his first win of 2022. Izan Guevara was second, whilst Carlos Tatay completed the podium. Brit Scott Ogden secured his first Moto3 points in 13^th, whilst teammate Josh Whatley finished in 20^th position.