Miguel Oliveira masters wet for Indonesian MotoGP win

The first Indonesian Grand Prix in 25 years was delayed by over an hour due to torrential rain and lightning.

When the lights finally went out for the start of the 20 lap race, reduced from 27, it was reigning World Champion Fabio Quartararo on the Monster Energy Yamaha who led the field, from pole position, into the first corner.

By lap two Oliveira was out front with Lenovo Ducati’s Jack Miller second. Quartararo was beginning to slip back from leading duo. Miller and Oliveira were opening a gap over the chasing pack now led by Ecstar Suzuki’s Alex Rins, Johann Zarco on the Pramac Ducati, Quartararo and the second Suzuki of Joan Mir.

From lap five the Portuguese rider was out front and no-one was catching him as he crossed the line over two seconds clear of Quartararo, who found his rhythm to snatch second from Zarco four laps from home.

Miller had to settle for fourth with the two Suzuki’s of Rins and Mir completing the top six.

Oliveira said: “Emotionally it was a roller coaster. The start was perfect but in the wet it is so hard to judge where the limit is, so I followed Jack (Miller) for a couple of laps then I understood I could still go a bit faster.

“When I overtook him I just tried to focused for the next five laps and did the maximum I could. I pulled the gap and just managed it for the whole race. For sure it was not easy.

“The last couple of months have not been easy for me so to be back like this with this incredible win is really emotional. I promised my daughter I would get her a trophy from Indonesia, so this one is for her.”.

Quartararo was delighted with his second place.

“I didn‘t expect this! Already from the warm-up lap it felt like we had something extra compared to normal, because we know