The day Indonesian MotoGP fans have been waiting for finally arrived today, as the Pertamina Mandalika Circuit hosted the Indonesian Grand Prix for the first time.
The least we can say is that the Sunday that the MotoGP paddock has just experienced was rich in events. While the Moto2 and Moto3 races took place as planned in the dry, the events became highly tense when the rain began to pour down just forty minutes before the start of the MotoGP race, initially scheduled for 15:00 p.m. local. Leaving the track in impassable conditions, it left MotoGP race management with no choice but to delay the start of the race until further notice. After more than an hour of heavy rain, the weather finally calmed down, allowing the race to start at 16:15 p.m. local time for twenty laps instead of twenty-seven, in front of an Indonesian public very eager to finally see the action unfold.
For his second race in MotoGP, rookie Raúl Fernández experienced his first race in the wet, starting from seventeenth position on the grid. After a long wait in the garage, the rider of an eventful and wet First Indonesia Grand Prix for Tech3 KTM Factory Racing was finally able to start doing what he was born to do, racing, when the rain stopped. The Spaniard got off to a very good start and was able to maintain a good pace which kept him and his group going for the first few laps, before starting to slow down slightly as the rain became heavier. Raúl especially had to completely figure out how his tires and bike perform in these very wet conditions, and he managed to put in a solid race while he learned. Raúl crossed the line in P17, not far from the points, and he now heads to Argentina having gained a lot of experience from this race.
Raúl Fernández: “ Today the big challenge for me was that the only wet reference I had was in Moto2. The front tire is much more sensitive on a MotoGP, and more difficult to control, which creates a huge difference between the two categories. In a Moto2 race in the wet you can sometimes crash while braking in a straight line, and that's what I had in mind, so I was a little shy at the start of the race. Lap after lap, I started to understand everything, feeling better on the bike, and I did a good job. It was my first race in the rain in the MotoGP world championship, so I learned a lot today. We had to do a race in the wet to learn, and it was good that it took place on a track that had grip, because my last race in the wet was with a pit bike in 2013. We have a bike that won today in the rain with Miguel Oliveira, so it's a very good bike and I'm very positive about it. I can't say that I'm happy, because I can't be happy being 17th, but if I take stock of the weekend, and in particular of the race, I'm not disappointed because at the end of the race, I caught up with Binder's group. The results will come with time, so we will continue to work well. »
Results of the Indonesian MotoGP Grand Prix at Mandalika Circuit:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
