Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) came through from P10 on the grid to finish second, 1.4 seconds away from Fernandez. Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) passed Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) late on to climb onto the podium despite having a double Long Lap penalty.

Bezzecchi got off to a flying start from the middle of the front row with Fernandez hot on his heels. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) took the third spot, and it was those three who built up an early lead over a chasing pack led by Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP).

On the final lap, Fernandez’s lead was 1.8 seconds, then 1.6s seconds through split two, but this was the Spaniard’s debut MotoGP win in the bag. 

Di Giannantonio strung together a brilliant second half of the Grand Prix to earn P2, and Bezzecchi finished the Grand Prix just 2.4 seconds off the win despite his double Long Lap penalty.

‘Brad Binder finished eighth’

Marquez had to settle for P4 at the flag, and Acosta held onto P5 by just 0.040 seconds. South Africa’s Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) finished eighth – a decent comeback following his three-place grid penalty.

Local hope Jack Miller crashed out of podium contention while running in sixth place, while two-time MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia also had to retire after a crash with four laps remaining.

“So sorry, but I cannot believe it. The team always believed in me. They never stopped supporting me. So it is the consequence of hard work. So thanks to them, of course, we have a really good pace,” said Fernandez.

‘You need to manage the tyres’

“We know on this kind of track, you need to manage the tyres very well, and I tried because at the end we knew it was very difficult to manage. That is what I did, especially in the last five laps. It was a super long race for me.”

The next race will take place from 24–26 October in Sepang, Malaysia. 

OFM Sport/Ilse Smalberger dg