ROUND 13 / SEPTEMBER 22-24, 2023
BUDDH INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT / UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA
P84
began to unzip in a similar situa-
tion to that of Fabio Quartararo's
at Catalunya in 2021. Martin
seemed unaware of it at first
but eventually got the zip secure
again, a saving grace for him and
his title hopes because had he
finished the race with an open
leather suit, he'd almost certainly
have been black-flagged and
disqualified from the race, thus
letting Bagnaia off the hook.
Having finally disposed of
Martin, Bagnaia was putting the
hammer down on the factory
Ducati, but instead of sealing a
safe second place and limiting
the title damage, he lost the
front and crashed out, seeing
his 37-point lead as of Sunday
morning reduced to just 13 over
Martin by Sunday afternoon.
Further drama came with five
laps to go when Martin's suit
APRILIA BESET BY
HEAT—AGAIN
There was a chilling reminder
of Aprilia's disastrous overseas
tour last year in India as Aleix
Espargaro experienced mechani-
cal issues, forcing him to retire
from seventh. The Catalan's
unexpected title challenge came
undone by a lack of performance
in tropical conditions last autumn.
And he noted the high tempera-
tures outside Delhi affected the
performance of the RS-GP all
weekend. "What I noticed was
the great amount of heat on the
bike and this has created some
problems for us in the past," he
said. Aprilia confirmed his engine
hadn't failed.
ALEX MARQUEZ KO'D
The grid for the Sprint was one
rider light as Alex Marquez broke
three ribs (the sixth, seventh and
eighth on his left side) in a nasty
turn-five high-side during Q1. The
Catalan rider admitted he was at
fault for the crash that has ruled
him out of this weekend, as well
as next week's race in Japan.
"Apart from the pain that I have
in my ribs that are broken and
painful more, I'm sad for the team
to miss India and to miss also Ja-
pan. I just made a mistake when
I went into turn five a little bit
faster, and I was on the dirty side.
I opened the throttle and just had
a big high-side. "It was my mis-
take. I'll learn from this moment.
It'll make us stronger, and I'll try
to come back in Indonesia."
TRACK GETS
APPROVAL… BARELY
There were many doubts head-
ing to the inaugural Indian Grand
Briefly...
Brad Binder leads Joan Mir
during the Sprint Race.
MOTOGP I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
