2024 MotoGP World Championship
Round 15 – Mandalika – Sunday
Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia
Jorge Martin – P1
“Last season, after the crash, today was a difficult race, after 13 laps I ,had some ghosts on my mind, then corner 11 and every lap on corner 16 I was trying to be very careful, we had a lot of wind there from the side, I know I was losing a lot there, but I was pushing in other parts. I think I was clever understanding the situation at the beginning of the race, and then trying to push more every lap, Acosta was incredible, even laps I was trying to make a gap, he was staying under 1 second. He was really strong, and I’m happy I could perform really well.
“I tried to be calm and be my best person, even if the rider behind is one-eighth, one-tenth, the important thing is to do the same thing. I didn’t try and change, or push more or less, I was at my maximum, it was Pedro trying to catch and making mistakes. The important thing is I made it to the podium. The confidence needs to be built from zero every race weekend, from Friday I didn’t touch a click on the bike, it was impressive, but we need to go a little more humble next time, we’ll start and decide what we need to be fast.”
Pedro Acosta – P2
“Since the first day, we knew that Mandalika could be a good track for us, and it was a good weekend in general. In the start of the race, I was struggling with the changing of directions in T2, but we were quite fast overall, I am happy with the race pace we showed, and we are finding a good consistency step by step that allows us to fight with the top guys. Towards the end of the race, Jorge Martin was riding at an incredible pace and it was the best we could do today.”
Francesco Bagnaia – P3
“In two seasons I was always perfect in the start, and in the last four MotoGPs, every time starting in a different way, and every time bad, again today was different to yesterday. Yesterday was not too bad, this morning was good, this afternoon I wheeled it then spun it, luckily I did not lose too many positions, but I was a bit too careful in the first lap and lost positions there. So my mistake there. Was an intense race, my pace was very fast, but when I was behind the group I was struggling with the front tyre, to break out, it was almost impossible to overtake Bezzecchi, with the GP23, they have a bit more traction than us, but once I overtook him it was much easier, as I knew much more what was happening, but very tough. Finishing third was ok, we gained three points in the championship. For me, when you’re in front and no one in front you can compensate the lack of rear grip in the braking, but if you’re behind you can’t push like you want and the tyre may not be ready, but maybe something with the GP24 is more like this when you’re behind. But after five or six laps I was back, to my best, but I missed the first five laps.
“I’m sorry for Enea, as something is happening this season very much, you’re pushing, you’re feeling very good, you are doing what you’ve done all weekend, then you crash, like this. Without advice, without movement, it’s happened many times to me, to Bastianini, so I think it’s something to do with our bike, it’s super huge performance, but we need to understand better this thing. With new tyres surely, we will understand, you can learn doing it, it’s just a shame. I enjoyed the moment, but not for the championship, because I was stuck behind, Franky, and when I was behind Bezecchi I was trying to be close to him to arrive at the braking close, but his acceleration was huge. So I tried to be close and as soon as he made mistake I overtook him, it was surely fun, but for the championship a bit less…”
Franco Morbidelli – P4
“It’s amazing, starting from P9 we gambled a bit with the soft front, and we tried to bring it to the end. For sure from 3/4 or half race we were struggling a bit, but we managed to bring home two great results.”
Marco Bezzecchi – P5
“What a great fight and what a truly special week here in Indonesia with so much affection from the people. I tried to do my best, but I was much more at the limit than Franco (Morbidelli) with the tire because he was in the front position of the battling group for the entire race. Too bad, but a technical problem at the start, which we have not yet fully understood, penalized us. The front lowering device didn’t engage three times in a row so compared to the others I basically started with the rear. The soft was the right choice, I was able to ride as I wanted and do my race. I’m happy, the battle is always fun in our sport.”
Maverick Viñales – P6
“It was an outstanding race. We had the peace to battle for the podium, but we still have to be happy with the result. It’s a pity about the qualifiers. On this track, you can’t make a mistake in even one session, because starting from this far back makes it difficult to come back. In the race, I found many positive aspects of the bike – both here and in Misano we found them – and this is encouraging from now to the end of the year.”
Fabio Quartararo – P7
“All weekend, we were not able to warm the medium rear tire up fast. We lost many seconds because of that at the beginning of the Race. The pace was really good though. We went with the hard-medium front, and I was able to brake super late and overtake, but I’m not super happy about the result. I was fast and finished closer to the riders ahead, which is positive. We are working and improving step by step. We have been in Q2 two race weekends in a row, and we got P7 in the last two Races, so we are heading in the right way. But rather than focusing on positions, I think we need to focus on how fast we are going, and today we had good speed.”
Brad Binder – P8
“A tricky one for us today. We made some changes this morning and tried something quite different but it was clear in the race that I didn’t quite have the margin to push. I was running wide a lot. I had to try to be clever with the front tire pressure and tucked behind a rider. It’s been a long weekend and I’m looking forward to see how we’ll manage in Japan next week.”
Johann Zarco – P9
“I’m happy. We missed some time at the start of the race, but then I had a good feeling. I could be closer to some of the strongest rivals today, and it was fun. We still suffer from a lack of acceleration, which jeopardizes our job in some areas. I tried not to lose concentration and finish the race with the best possible result, as we needed this. After this weekend, I’m certain these are the first steps to keep improving our bike in the right direction”.
Raul Fernandez – P10
“It was good. We improved a lot today, the pace was really good and we made a really positive step. I did almost all the race with Maverick (Viñales), which was important for me because in the end I was at the Aprilia factory level. To finish a race like that, after a series of difficult races where we didn’t score, we finally got points today and did a good job. The disappointing thing is that I did 24 laps in the slipstream of the bikes ahead and couldn’t overtake and then, in the last three laps, I was almost done. But anyway, it is a track that I like and although I couldn’t exploit my full potential, I think we did a good job and I’m really happy. After this, we go to Japan, where we were super good last year with a ninth place in difficult conditions. So, it’s really positive to end the weekend here like that, inside the top 10 and now we need to understand how we can improve overtaking, as this is our most difficult point at the moment. But, overall, we are getting back to a good feeling again, doing a good job and the target for Japan is to solve our problem to overtake and improve our performance in Qualifying. I think we can do a really good job there.”
Takaaki Nakagami – P11
“Today’s conditions were hard. At the beginning of the race I struggled to warm up the tires and that didn’t allow me to push. Then, once I understood the situation, I tried to avoid mistakes and push as much as I could with our package. The level of grip was quite low, and that made us suffer a bit. In any case, it’s been an important race to gather information, grab points and arrive to Motegi with the aim of doing a solid performance as it’s going to be my last home Grand Prix”.
Alex Rins – P12
“I lost a lot of positions on the first lap. I went into corner 7 without using the throttle and completely lost the rear. We knew that it was going to be hard for us to warm up the rear tyre, to get temperature into it, but it was even harder than we expected. We started the Friday quite well, but we couldn’t make the progress we wanted. Saturday was hard, and today was quite tough too. So, we need to check what happened, and we need to analyze the data. But I’m looking forward to the next race weekend, which is luckily already next week. So, let’s jump on the bike again in Japan.”
Marc Marquez – DNF
“We had an issue with the engine, happen during the race, it’s something that can happen in MotoGP, it’s a mechanical thing that’s not in our hands, it’s not a fault from Ducati, a fault from the team, it’s just happen and that’s it. We win together we lose together. The thing is the speed was there, every lap was better, the feeling and I was catching the front group and the next race will be Japan, which I like. I’ll try to find consistency and improve my weak points. To improve well for next year. One of my weak points is that consistency, so let’s see if I can improve there, for the Spring race and main race.”
Enea Bastianini – 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. I pushed over the limits in that lap trying to fight for the last lap – for the victory, but then I committed that big mistake. I think 70 points are a lot to recover, but I’m here to try and win, if it’s possible I’ll try to do it, at the moment it’s possible, I know the situation, I’ll continue. The team work is fantastic, every time we’re competitive and with good speed, so we’ll see.”
Augusto Fernandez – DNF
“It is a shame to finish the Indonesian GP on a technical issue. Otherwise, the start was good but then I was struggling in the first part of the race with a full tank and new tires. After some laps, the pace got better, in the low 1’31, I was starting to feel much better, which is good for us to analyze looking at the next round in Motegi.”
Fabio DiGiannantonio – DNF
“The support and affection of the fans here in Indonesia made this weekend special in any case even if I finish without points. Today compared to the group we made a different choice, but after yesterday’s race we had a lot of information and we started to think that the soft could be a solution for today. We had a great pace, we probably lost too much time with Marc (Marquez) because I was faster at that moment. When I overtook him I was going fast, but suddenly I lost the front and I couldn’t do anything.”
Jack Miller – DNF
“I got away to a good start and threaded the needle in Turn 1 like I could but then for the change of direction into Turn 3 I had a load of bikes right ahead of me, and had to grab the brakes. It was the first time on the lefthand side of the tire and it was a bit much on the first lap. It is just one of those things that can happen. I was in the middle of the group so a massive apology to the others that went down also. We have to look to Japan now. It’s been a good track for us in the past. We’ll see what we can do because yesterday here I felt our speed was decent.”
Alex Marquez – DNF
“Somebody hit me, I think it was Jack (Miller)… these things happened, but it’s still a pity. We lost points in the championship standings and missed an opportunity to make amends following the recent crashes. Not much else to say… we’ll try to find some fresh confidence in a few days’ time at Motegi.”
Aleix Espargaro – DNF
“We had a lot of bad luck throughout the entire weekend. We were unable to find the competitiveness we expected. We made some changes to the setup for the long race, but unfortunately we were unable to test them due to the crash I was involved in. I’m optimistic for the GP of Japan and I’ll try to flip the script there.”
Joan Mir – DNF
“We can’t be happy with the weekend with all our bad luck, two crashes from two starts. I could see that the performance of the bike has improved but it’s frustrating that we weren’t able to put that onto the track finally. When you look at Zarco you can see that the upgrades Honda have prepared are a clear step. We will sit down and look for ways to keep improving again. Motegi should be a more normal weekend for us.”
Luca Marini – DNF
“I couldn’t really see what happened in the moment of the crash, but there were three or four riders all together in the change of direction and there was some contact somewhere and we all fell. Impossible to avoid it, this can happen, it’s bad luck. A strange race for everyone, a shame that the bike was too damaged because there was the chance for some good points in the end. Bad luck at points this weekend, but we need to look at the overall job we’ve done and also what Zarco has done because our bike is becoming more competitive.”
Team Managers
Nicolas Goyon – GASGAS Team Manager
“What an unbelievable performance for Pedro Acosta! This second place concludes a great weekend in Indonesia, after a front-row qualifying, a 6th place in the sprint and today’s P2. Pedro struggled a bit in the sprint with the soft tyres, but we knew that he could fight for a strong result on the long distance with the medium, and he proved it. He rode at a high pace, and only got beaten by the championship’s leader, so it’s a great result for us after the race as we were under investigation for tire pressure, but luckily there was no problem in the end, so congratulations to the team Augusto Fernandez had a tricky weekend, and was unlucky today after he had to retire following a strange technical! issue while he was in the points. It is a great shame for him, a good result would have been nice for the confidence!”
Pablo Nieto – VR46 Team Manager
“A week really full of emotions for all of us here in Mandalika at the Indonesian GP with the colors of Pertamina Lubricants and today livery with the Indonesian flag. We were welcomed in the best possible way, today we met Nicke Widyawati, President Director & CEO of Pertamina, together with Werry Prayogi, President Director of Pertamina Lubricants. We close this GP covered by the affection of the fans and with a good result from the whole Team. Marco is back to being among the protagonists, he deserves it and it was needed for all of us. Fabio has struggled more, his shoulder is bothering him more than expected, but in this GP he managed to be close to the group.”
Francesco Guidotti – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager
“Bittersweet day because of Jack’s crash in the second corner and it involved some other riders, which can happen, so we apologize to those guys and their teams. A good race for Brad recovering eleven positions. It was all he could do today. Ready for Japan now. Hopefully we’ll have both riders making it to the checkered flag!”
Massimo Meregalli – Monster Yamaha Team Director
“It was a tough race for our riders. The conditions were already extreme, but besides that, both Fabio and Álex found it difficult to defend their position in the early stages of the race because we struggled to get heat into the rear tyre. Their pace did gradually improve once the rear tire started to perform well, but it took a lot of laps to get the most out of it. We did finish 7th and 11th*, which is not so bad for a weekend where we struggled. But we can’t overlook that we were not as competitive as we had aimed to be. So, we will take a good look at today’s data to see what we can take away from this as we prepare for Yamaha’s home GP next week in Japan.”
Wilco Zeelenberg – Trackhouse Team Manager
“After yesterday’s pace we had been hoping for a top 10 race today because we thought that was possible. Of course, it has been difficult, but it turned out to be a top 10 and although, obviously, there was a lot of action – a lot of crashes – many things also happened behind Raul. I think he had fantastic peace but, unfortunately, at the end, he makes progress although, with a big gap behind, he has been clever to bring it home because others couldn’t. In these tricky conditions, over all the weekend, the front tire was not easy to manage – not easy to control – and to have a top 10 finish and 55 points at the moment, I think we can only be satisfied. Of course, we want more and also we are very disappointed about what happened to Miguel. We wish him all the best for his surgery tomorrow and a speedy recovery in order to have him back with us soon.”
Davide Brivio – Trackhouse Team Principal
“To be in the top 10 is, of course, not a bad result. Raul avoided the crash at the beginning of the race and did a good job. We could have been better and we need to find the best package for him to help make progress through the race, particularly to manage overtaking in the traffic. But we take the points we scored, this was a positive top 10 and we continue to progress and look forward to Japan. For Miguel, it was very sad not to have him here to race. We wish him all the best – he is going to have a surgery tomorrow morning in Portugal and we hope he has a speedy recovery and wait for him to be back as soon as possible.”
MotoGP Mandalica Race Results
| Post | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
| 1 | J.Martin | Duke | 41m04.389 |
| 2 | P. Acosta | KTM | +1.404 |
| 3 | F Bagnaia | Duke | +5.595 |
| 4 | F Morbidelli | Duke | +6.507 |
| 5 | M Bezzecchi | Duke | +6.772 |
| 6 | M Vinales | Apr | +11.330 |
| 7 | F Quartararo | Yam | +13.203 |
| 8 | B Binder | KTM | +14.862 |
| 9 | J.Zarco | Hon | +15.151 |
| 10 | R Fernandez | Apr | +21.079 |
| 11 | T.Nakagami (+18 sec penalty) | Hon | +27.696 |
| 12 | A. Rins | Yam | +33.633 |
| Not Classified | |||
| DNF | E. Bastianini | Duke | 7 laps |
| DNF | R. Fernandez | KTM | 8 laps |
| DNF | J. Myr | Hon | 15 laps |
| DNF | M. Marquez | Duke | 16 laps |
| DNF | F. Di Giannantonio | Duke | 19 laps |
| DNF | A. Espargaro | Apr | / |
| DNF | A. Marquez | Duke | / |
| DNF | J. Miller | KTM | / |
| DNF | L. Marini | Hon | / |
Mandalika MotoGP Top Speeds Across Weekend
| Post | Rider | Bike | Speed |
| 1 | P. Acosta | KTM | 319.5 |
| 2 | F. Bagnaia | Duc | 319.5 |
| 3 | J.Martin | Duc | 318.5 |
| 4 | E. Bastianini | Duc | 318.5 |
| 5 | B. Binder | KTM | 317.6 |
| 6 | F. Morbidelli | Duc | 316.7 |
| 7 | R Fernandez | Apr | 314.8 |
| 8 | J. Mir | Hon | 314.8 |
| 9 | M. Marquez | Duc | 314.8 |
| 10 | A. Espargaro | Apr | 314.8 |
| 11 | J. Miller | KTM | 314.8 |
| 12 | M. Bezzecchi | Duc | 314.8 |
| 13 | A. Marquez | Duc | 313.9 |
| 14 | M. Vinales | Apr | 313.9 |
| 15 | R. Fernandez | KTM | 313.9 |
| 16 | A. Rins | Yam | 313.0 |
| 17 | J.Zarco | Hon | 313.0 |
| 18 | F Quartararo | Yam | 313.0 |
| 19 | J. Mir | Hon | 313.0 |
| 20 | T.Nakagami | Hon | 311.2 |
| 21 | F. Di Giannantonio | Duc | 309.4 |
| 22 | M. Oliveira | Apr | 309.4 |
MotoGP Championship Standings
| Post | Rider | Points |
| 1 | Martin | 366 |
| 2 | Bagnaia | 345 |
| 3 | Bastianini | 291 |
| 4 | Márquez M | 288 |
| 5 | Acosta | 181 |
| 6 | Binder | 173 |
| 7 | Vinales | 162 |
| 8 | Espargaro | 127 |
| 9 | Bezzecchi | 125 |
| 10 | Di Giannantonio | 122 |
| 11 | Márquez A | 121 |
| 12 | Morbidelli | 120 |
| 13 | Quartararo | 82 |
| 14 | Oliveira | 71 |
| 15 | Miller | 58 |
| 16 | Fernandez | 55 |
| 17 | Zarco | 31 |
| 18 | Nakagami | 26 |
| 19 | Mir | 20 |
| 20 | Fernandez | 20 |
| 21 | Rins | 19 |
| 22 | Espargaro | 12 |
| 23 | Pedrosa | 7 |
| 24 | Marini | 5 |
