OLIVEIRA MASTERS THE WET TO WIN IN INDONESIA

The first Indonesian Grand Prix in 25 years took place in very wet conditions, and it was Portuguese KTM rider Miguel Oliveira that dealt with the rain-soaked track best to take his fourth win in the premier class.

It was a bizarre race lead up with the race being delayed for over an hour because of heavy rain showers and would eventually see the race run to a shorter 20 lap distance than originally planned.

Many of the contenders in the first round finished well down the order in the second race of the weekend.

Reigning champion Fabio Quartararo however rebounded from his Qatar woes to come home second in Indonesia. Although he started from pole, the flying Frenchman was delighted with p2 as he has regularly struggled in those conditions in the premier class.

As the lights went out Oliveira made a blinding start from seventh on the grid, immediately jumping into second around Turn 1.

He remained on the tail of pole sitter Quartararo throughout the rest of the lap until the Yamaha rider ran slightly wide in the final turn and allowed him through.

Oliveira was soon followed by Australian Jack Miller on his factory Ducati who overtook him at the start of lap 2.

Miller himself started from p6 and on the same lap snatched the lead quickly from Oliveira, showing his natural pace in the wet conditions.

Miller quickly established a lead over Oliveira and the chasing pack Quartararo, Johann Zarco, and the two Suzukis Alex Rins and Joan Mir

Both Rins and soon got the better of Quartararo, but now sat 2.4s behind the leading duo of Miller and Oliveira.

Despite quickly establishing a lead, Oliveira caught and passed Miller at Turn 12 on lap 6, however the Aussie stayed on his tail for several laps.

Several riders had monster slides exiting the final turn including several title contenders Pol Espargaro and Franseco Bagnaia who were both buried in the pack.

Another expected title contender having just got the better of Franco Morbidelli for P7, Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) caught one of the puddles at Turn 1, and unlike Ducati counterpart Bagnaia, there was no saving a crash for Martin.

The 2021 Rookie of the Year was down, out, however two DNFs in the first two races wh=as not what he wanted.

At this stage Oliveira had stretched his lead to 1.6s, Miller was second, Rins third, Zarco fourth, and Quartararo fifth with 12 laps to go.

At half race distance it was Pramac Ducati rider Zarco who was the quickest rider on track and was soon followed by a quality on Rins at Turn 12 for a spot on the podium.

Miller’s pace had faded, he was now also in touching distance, while out-front Oliveira was a further 3.5s down the road.

However before Zarco could catch Miller a resurgent Quartararo had found some great rhythm and was back into P3 with five laps to go.

Quartararo was the fastest rider on track and was back up to second by lap 16.

Zarco, eventually, followed the Yamaha man through to get the better of Miller.

On lap 17 Quartararo took 1s out of race leader Oliveira, the margin now just 3s, could he catch the Portuguese man?

The answer, no. Oliveira responded to the attack, raised his pace and did more than enough to take his fourth MotoGP victory.

Quartararo was elated despite finishing second and Zarco ended his long podium drought after starting 2021 strongly.

Aussie Miller is always strong in the wet and therefore was disappointed with fourth, holding off Rins and Mir who started from well down in 18th position.

Factory Yamaha rider Franco Morbidelli finished a very lonely P7 despite his three-place grid penalty.

Behind him was the battle of the race with half a dozen bikes scrapping for eighth and changing position at almost every turn.

In the end Oliveira’s factory KTM teammate prevailed, Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro was next from Darryn Binder who scored his first points in the premier class.

Round 1 winner Enea Bastianini sat in eighth late on, but was shuffled back down to 11th on the final lap of the race, just ahead of Pol Espargaro. All five riders were separated by just 1.1s at the line.

Behind them came Alex Marquez, Luca Marini and Bagnaia who slipped to a disappointing P15, picking up the final point.

Maverick Vinales, Raul Fernandez, Fabio di Giannantonio, Takaaki Nakagami, Marco Bezzecchi and the second Aussie Remy Gardner rounded out the field.

Gardner struggled to see for much of the race, in what was the first time he had ever ridden a MotoGP bike in the wet.

Andrea Dovizioso was the only other non-finisher alongside Martin, the Italian encountered a technical issue with his Yamaha YZR-M1.

Marc Marquez was not allowed to start the race after picking up a concussion after a frightening high side ruled him out.

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