Fermin Aldeguer obliterated the field to take his first-ever victory in the premier class following a dramatic Indonesian MotoGP race.
Aldeguer became the first rider to win his race in a rookie season since Jorge Martin in 2021, getting revenge after losing out in Saturday’s Sprint.
The Spaniard’s victory came after a collision between two pre-race favourites, after Marco Bezzecchi took out World Champion Marc Marquez on the opening lap.
Bezzecchi made another sloppy start as the lights went out, and the Italian was immediately demoted to sixth as those on the front two rows made a better getaway.
Pedro Acosta took the lead of the race amidst the chaos befalling the Aprilia, while Luca Marini had a great start from sixth on the grid to go into second.
As Bezzecchi looked to get back on terms, he attempted an audacious move on World Champion Marc Marquez. The Italian was too late on the brakes and crashed with the Spanish rider at Turn 7, taking two of the biggest contenders out of the race on Lap 1.
Alex Marquez made contact with the Honda of Joan Mir before getting past for seventh place. Mir then crashed out of the race two corners later to end what had been a strong weekend.
While all of the chaos was unfolding behind, Fermin Aldeguer took second from Marini before using his momentum to pass childhood rival Pedro Acosta at Turn 10 for the lead of the race.
Francesco Bagnaia was having another disappointing race, running two seconds behind Somkiat Chantra in 16th position. However, Bagnaia would not see the chequered flag as he crashed out of the race at Turn 17, leaving just 15 riders in the race after 10 laps of running.
Marini passed Acosta for second place, but the KTM rider responded immediately, getting back through and keeping second place. The Italian tried his luck again Acosta three laps later, but the KTM rider did not want to be beaten and toughed it out to retain second place.
Raul Fernandez attempted to steal third place after Marini’s initial move, but ran well wide and fell back into the clutches of Alex Rins in fifth. The Italian also suffered from Fernandez’s move, which allowed Rins to capitalise and move into the podium positions, with Alex Marquez also finding his way through on the pair.
Marini lost his momentum and further ground to the podium battle, surrendering positions to Fabio Quartararo and Brad Binder in eighth. Meanwhile, Alex Rins was making his good luck pay off as he continued to put pressure on Acosta and took second place on Lap 19.
Alex Marquez had hoped to follow Rins past Acosta fairly quickly, but the Spaniard would have to wait three laps to make his overtake. Marquez had the speed and momentum in the late stages and used his superior straight-line speed to pass Rins for second place.
Rins’ soft rear tyre began spinning up after losing second and moved back behind Acosta. Fernandez tried an opportunistic move at Turn 16 to also get past Rins, which paid off but allowed Brad Binder to do a double overtake into fourth.
Acosta seemed to get a second wind after seeing team-mate Binder behind, as he pulled his own overtake to get ahead of Marquez and into second place, with the podium battle going until the final laps.
Jack Miller would not be a feature in the fight, however, as he crashed out of the top 10 with three laps to go. The Australian decided to rejoin the race as there were only 14 riders in the running, with points still available for Miller.
Aldeguer crossed the line to become the first rookie to win a MotoGP race since Jorge Martin in 2021, taking the overall victory by 6.987s.
Acosta earned a hard-fought second place, while Alex Marquez completed a 1-3 for Gresini by taking third.
Binder’s late race pace allowed him to finish fourth, with Marini taking fifth place after a close battle with the South African.
Fernandez was the sole RS-GP runner remaining in the weekend as he narrowly scored a sixth-place finish over Fabio Quartararo.
The VR46 riders crossed the line in seventh and eighth respectively, with Franco Morbidelli beating Fabio Di Giannantonio to the line.
Rins was 10th after struggling with tyre degradation, while Miguel Oliveira was a distant 11th.
Johann Zarco led LCR Honda team-mate Chantra over the line in 12th and 13th, while Miller completed the finishers in 14th.
Enea Bastianini was the only technical retirement from the race, joining crashers Mir, Bagnaia, Marquez and Bezzecchi as the non-classified runners of the Indonesian GP.
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