LOMBOK: Francesco Bagnaia said Thursday he plans to challenge MotoGP championship leader Jorge Martin with an aggressive strategy at this weekend’s Indonesia Grand Prix as he tries to chip away at the Spaniard’s 24-point lead.

Defending champion Bagnaia will be gunning for a repeat performance at the Mandalika International Circuit after winning the race last year to storm further ahead of his Pramac rival in the title race. But the roles have been reversed this year with Martin racing ahead after Ducati’s Bagnaia crashed out at Emilia-Romagna last weekend. “I think I still need to approach in an aggressive way this part of the season, then after these two races I will maybe change my strategy. But at the moment I have to push a lot,” he told reporters. “I will approach like always, pushing, trying to be competitive and trying to win races. I am now 24 points behind so they are not a lot, but they are also not a few.”

Martin was looking to put Emilia-Romagna behind him after he was pipped by Enea Bastianini on the final lap, failing to capitalize more on Bagnaia’s dreadful end to the weekend. “The more pressure I have, the more difficult things become. I try to be more focused on riding, on my feelings,” Martin said.

“If I start thinking too much, then I start making mistakes.” Bastianini’s second GP win of the season, and seventh of his career, at Misano Adriatico last weekend allowed Bagnaia’s Ducati teammate to move to within 59 points of Martin in third. — AFP

Gresini rider Marc Marquez, who will ride alongside Bagnaia with Ducati’s factory team next season, trails his fellow Spaniard Martin by 60 points and slipped behind Bastianini into fourth in the overall standings last weekend.

Marquez had pulled himself back into the title hunt after winning the two GPs before Emilia-Romagna and the sprint in Aragon. But he crashed in qualifying in Italy and couldn’t gain any points on Martin in the standings.

MotoGP returned to Indonesia in 2022 for the first time since 1997, at a new venue on the resort island of Lombok. — AFP