Oliveira, Chantra and Foggia triumph in Mandalika without Márquez

MADRID, March 20. (Royals Blue) –

The Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira (KTM), in MotoGP; the Thai Somkiat Chantra (Kalex), in Moto2; and the Italian Dennis Foggia (Honda), in Moto3, have been proclaimed winners of the tests in their respective categories at the Indonesian Grand Prix, the second round of the Motorcycle World Championship, a day in which the Spanish Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) could not compete in the race after suffering a chilling ‘highside’ in the ‘warm up’.

On a day marked by rain, up to three Spaniards managed to get on the podium in Mandalika, with Arón Canet (Kalex) climbing to third place in the intermediate category and Izan Guevara (GasGas) and Carlos Tatay (CFMoto) escorting Foggia as second and third, respectively, in the small displacement.

In MotoGP, Miguel Oliveira (KTM) took his fourth victory in the category by dominating in the wet ahead of the reigning world champion and Saturday’s poleman, Frenchman Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), and his compatriot Johann Zarco (Ducati ), all in a dramatic day for Marc Márquez.

The day started crooked for the eighth champion, who went down already in the ‘warm up’ in a terrible accident in which both he and his bike were blown up. The one from Cervera had to go through the medical center, where he was declared unfit for the race due to a head injury.

The test, in addition, suffered considerable delays -of an hour and a quarter- due to the intense rain that fell on the Indonesian track, it was reduced to 20 laps. ‘El Diablo’ defended his privileged position in a start in which Oliveira rose from seventh to second place. Already in the second lap, he took command escorted by a Jack Miller (Ducati) who fell from the podium positions in the last laps, overtaken by the two French riders.

Àlex Rins (Suzuki) was the first of the Spaniards to complete the ‘Top 5’ after the Australian, with Joan Mir (Suzuki) sixth. Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) finished ninth, Pol Espargaró (Repsol Honda) twelfth, Àlex Márquez (Honda) thirteenth, Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) sixteenth and Raúl Fernández (KTM) seventeenth.

For his part, Jorge Martín (Ducati) suffered his second abandonment of the course after stepping on a trickle of water at the end of the straight. Meanwhile, the Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati) kept the lead (30) despite finishing eleventh, and is two units ahead of the South African Darryn Binder (Yamaha) and three over Quartararo.

CHANTRA WINS AND VIETTI CONFIRMS AS MOTO2 LEADER

In Moto2, Somkiat Chantra (Kalex) became the first Thai to achieve a victory in the World Championship by dominating, ahead of the Italian Celestino Vietti (Kalex) and the Spanish Arón Canet (Kalex), a race that had to be reduced from 25 to 16 laps to preserve track conditions due to high asphalt temperatures. Second place allows the Italian to revalidate his leadership with nine points over Canet.

Chantra took the lead as soon as the traffic lights went out, ahead of Britain’s San Lowes (Kalex) and Saturday’s poleman, Jake Dixon (Kalex), who was out of the fight in the following laps after suffering a drop.

With six laps to go, the Thai consolidated his advantage and Vietti and Canet managed to distance themselves further from Lowes to confirm themselves on the podium. Augusto Fernández (Kalex), who had started second, could at least seal a ‘Top 5’, fifth.

As for the rest of the Spaniards, the ‘rookie’ Fermín Aldeguer (Boscoscuro) finished seventh, the reigning Moto3 champion, Pedro Acosta (Kalex) from Murcia, finished ninth, just ahead of Albert Arenas (Kalex), Jorge Navarro (Kalex ) thirteenth, Jeremy Alcoba (Kalex) fourteenth, Marcos Ramírez (MV Augusta) seventeenth and Manu González (Kalex) eighteenth.

FOGGIA WINS ESCORTED BY SPANIARDS AND ASSAULTS THE LEADERSHIP OF MOTO3

Lastly, in Moto3, the Italian Dennis Foggia (Honda) confirmed his status as favorite for the title by achieving victory and climbing to the top of a podium in which he was accompanied by the Spaniards Izan Guevara (GasGas) and Carlos Tatay (CFMoto ) -‘poleman’ on Saturday and who climbs the box for the first time-, second and third respectively.

After the final fall of his compatriot Andrea Migno (Honda), winner in Qatar and until now leader of the small category, Foggia takes command of the general classification with 34 points, one more than Sergio García Dols (GasGas), who was fourth in the race, and Guevara is third with 28.

Tatay resisted the final attacks of García Dols to get on the podium and condemn the Castellón native to fourth place. Furthermore, Xavi Artigas (CFMoto) was sixth, ahead of Jaume Masià (KTM), Dani Holgado (KTM) finished ninth, Ana Carrasco (KTM) nineteenth and Gerard Riu Male (KTM) twenty-first. Neither Adrián Fernández (KTM) nor Iván Ortolá (KTM) could finish.