As Motorsport.com Italia reports, Marc Marquez walked away from the Indonesian round beaming after conquering a circuit where he had previously never managed to finish a single Grand Prix. The Ducati rider took 22 points home from the weekend thanks to his Sprint victory and a sixth-place finish on Sunday, leaving the venue with his championship ambitions firmly intact. Only Marco Bezzecchi managed a larger haul with 25 points, while Jorge Martin maintained his exact same gap at the top.
Coming into Mandalika, the Spaniard knew history was not on his side given his past DNFs in the long races at the venue. That brutal history prompted a cautious approach rather than an all-out attack, making the 22-point harvest feel like pure gold. Jorge Martin had arrived in Indonesia leading the standings by two points over the Ducati pilot, and left Lombok with that exact same two-point margin. Considering the track has historically given the #93 machine a hard time, surviving the weekend on equal terms was a massive win.
"It was a perfect weekend. I am very happy not to have lost any points compared to Martin and only three compared to Bezzecchi. If they had told me on Thursday, I would have jumped for joy," Marquez summarized.
Saturday saw the Spanish star control the 12-lap Sprint with absolute ease, especially after a first-turn crash eliminated Marco Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandez. Sunday proved a different beast altogether, as the Aprilia machines, Jorge Martin, and Ai Ogura unleashed the exact speed and cornering fluidity expected from the Noale manufacturer on a layout that rewards momentum above all else.
Tyre degradation bit hard on Sunday, forcing the Catalan rider to extract every ounce of pace from his machine even when the lap times refused to come easily. "Obviously, you always want more. But we struggled, because the tyre wear was high and I had to push at the maximum given that the times weren't coming out easily. The important thing is that I managed to resist and I was the first of the Ducatis. We saved the situation in a rather turbulent weekend," Marquez explained, admitting he had to actively block out the ghosts of his past failures at the venue.
Looking at the broader picture, the championship battle has officially shaped into a three-way war with Marco Bezzecchi taking victory. "The World Championship is a three-way challenge. It has been seen that anything can happen. Bezzecchi has won the last two races of last year and the first three of this year. But the great thing is that I am fighting against two Aprilias," the multi-champion noted.
After a brief stay in Indonesia with his partner, the rider will head straight to Australia for a round offering far more encouraging memories than the ones he just exorcised in Lombok.
