MANDALIKA, Indonesia (Reuters) -Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi staged a sensational comeback to win the Indonesian Grand Prix sprint on Saturday, overtaking Gresini Racing's 20-year-old rookie Fermin Aldeguer on the final lap at the Mandalika International Street Circuit.
Bezzecchi, who started from pole position, made a disastrous start and dropped several places before the 26-year-old Italian rallied to secure his third sprint win in MotoGP.
"It was a fantastic race. Unfortunately, we have to understand what happened at the start because I lost a lot of time. But afterwards, I was so confident, so fast," Bezzecchi said.
"Fermin was already gone, so I didn't expect to catch him. But I didn't give up and it was fantastic, I'm destroyed! It was incredible in the last lap - I tried my all to go all in and I wanted this win so badly!
"I'm very happy and now we think about tomorrow."
Having led for most of the 13-lap sprint, Aldeguer was denied a triumph that would have made the Spaniard the youngest MotoGP sprint winner.
"In the end we have to be happy. Another time on the podium is a big result, but after taking lead in the race, very good pace (I) would have loved the victory ... But tomorrow we have another chance," Aldeguer said.
Trackhouse's Raul Fernandez completed the podium after starting third on the grid.
Newly-crowned MotoGP champion Marc Marquez struggled at Mandalika, a circuit where the seven-times world champion has never won. Marquez received a long lap penalty for contact with Yamaha's Alex Rins, resulting in the 32-year-old Spaniard finishing seventh.
Marquez's points helped Ducati clinch the teams' world championship after a dominant season featuring 13 Grand Prix wins and 15 sprint victories.
Marquez's teammate and twice MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia had a day to forget as the Italian finished 14th, having failed to qualify for Q2.
KTM's Pedro Acosta also endured a tough day, crashing out of second place on lap five to end his hopes of a podium finish.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Ed Osmond)
