The first Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia was held successfully on March 20, 2022. The event took place in the new Mandalika International Street Circuit in Lombok, Indonesia.

As it is the first MotoGP that Indonesia has ever held since 1997, the country paid special attention to the entire event. Naturally, several things are bound to get more attention than the others, and we are here to sum them up. Here is our pick of the three most viral moments from MotoGP Mandalika.

Aleix Espargaro tossing his helmet away to the grandstand
It seems like this Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro really knows the basics of social media marketing. Three days before the race, he tweeted: "Hi Indonesian fans, if I reached 1 million Instagram followers before Sunday, I would toss my racing helmet to the grandstand after the race!"

He had approximately 940 thousand followers before the race, and that challenge managed to get him passed the 1 million mark.

Fortunately, Espargaro is the man of his words, so he did toss his helmet to the grandstand.

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Aleix 41 (@aleixespargaro)

Marc Marquez's crashes
Many are led to believe that Marc Marquez did not get a good first impression of the circuit. The Repsol Honda driver went through four crashes in the Grand Prix, and one was life-threatening.

The first occurred on the second free practice session, on Turn 11. Fortunately for the Baby Alien, he walked out of the session without a scratch.

The second and third crashes took place on Saturday's first qualification. The Spanish racer crashed on the same spot twice, Turn 13. But he turned out okay after the accidents, and thus his venture continues.

The worst of the crashes happened in the warm-up session, where Marquez suffered a massive highside on Turn 7. The crash resulted in the eight-time World Champion being taken to the Mandalika hospital.

As a preventive measure, Marquez decided not to join the race as he suffered a concussion. He announced the decision in his Instagram post, where he also confirmed that he is "okay".

 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by MotoGP™ (@motogp)

Rain shaman
Indonesia is a country of unique cultures, and one of the said unique cultures took place at the Grand Prix. Many Indonesians believe that rain shamans have the ability to divert rainfall. That's why it is common for many outdoor events to use shamans' services.

Erick Thohir, the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, happens to be one of the believers. He recommended the event to use Rara Istiani Wulandari's service. The rain-averting shaman reportedly had worked for Thohir previously on several occasions.

Since it was raining on the Grand Prix, everyone got the chance to witness Wulandari in action, and foreigners were mesmerized by Wulandari's work.

THANK YOU for stopping the rain! ?#IndonesianGP ?? pic.twitter.com/zv7mUB8DPr

— MotoGP™? (@MotoGP) March 20, 2022

MotoGP's official Twitter account tweeted "THANK YOU for stopping the rain!" with images of Wulandari and Fabio Quartararo mimicking what the shaman did, except he did so with a paper cup and ice cream spoon instead of special equipment Wulandari used for the ritual.