• Victory for Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) in Mandalika
• Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) set the lap record in 1min31
• Quartararo also set the best lap in the race in 1min38s749
Miguel Oliveira won an eventful first Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia ahead of Fabio Quartararo and Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) second and third respectively in a race marked by high temperatures, rain and complicated track conditions on the Mandalika Street Circuit from Lombok.
The choice of tires for the race looked particularly difficult due to a lack of driving in the dry, and particularly in FP4, a session interrupted by a red flag. In fact, some teams did not have the time necessary to find the bike settings to get the most out of the MICHELIN Power slick tires.
However, after the heavy rains that fell before the start and the race shortened to 20 laps, the slick tire was no longer really relevant on the starting grid. All the drivers chose the MICHELIN Power Rain Medium front and rear tire.
As this is the first MotoGP™ organized on this circuit, all the timekeeping references were achieved this weekend. Starting with the lap record of 1min31 by Quartararo in Q067 on Saturday afternoon with MICHELIN Power Slicks Medium front and Soft rear.
On Sunday, the MotoGP lap record in the race was achieved in 1min38s749 by the same Quartararo in 17e turn as he chased leader Oliveira.
On Friday, the Free Practice 1 (FP1) session began in wet conditions after morning rain. The drivers were able to gauge the level of grip provided by this partially resurfaced circuit. In FP2, on a completely dry but still “green” and “polluted” track, the grip was not optimal, but the drivers had fitted the rear Soft slicks to perform fast laps before a possible FP3 disrupted by the rain, and thus avoid being trapped to move on to Q2.
On Saturday, FP3 took place on a wet track as planned, so the times were not improved and the drivers who finished in the top-10 in FP2 were directly qualified for Q2.
During Qualifying 2 (Q2), Quartararo took pole position aboard his Yamaha, joined on the front row by the Ducati Pramac Racing of Jorge Martin and Zarco. Only 0.656 seconds separated the top-10 at the end of this session!
At the end of the race, Piero Taramasso, Michelin Motorsport Two-Wheel Manager, said: “ There was a lot of discussion during the weekend about the architecture of the new rear tire included in our allocation, but the times achieved from the start of the different sessions, identical to those recorded during the three days of winter testing, proved that this choice was the best and safest on this new and complicated Mandalika circuit.
In the race, the MICHELIN Power Rain tires worked very well for all teams and riders as always, with three manufacturers on the podium and fast and consistent times, even though no one had the opportunity to test the 2022 bikes in rainy conditions. From a more general point of view, I am very happy for the fans that the MotoGP race was able to take place and that we were able to give them a spectacle that they will remember for a long time. »
