President Jokowi Welcomes MotoGP Racers at Merdeka Palace

President Jokowi and MotoGP racers (Photo by: PR of Cabinet Secretariat/Agung)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo Wednesday (03/16) welcomed several MotoGP racers at the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta who will compete at Mandalika Circuit in the island of Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara province, on 18-20 March.

On that occasion, the Head of State met with 20 racers, 16 of whom are MotoGP racers, two are Moto2 racers, one is a Moto3 racer, and one is an Idemitsu Asia Talent Cup (IATC) racer.

Among these racers were Marc Marquez, Francesco Bagnaia, Johann Zarco, Alex Marquez, Joan Mir, Gabrial Rodrigo, Enea Bastianini, Andra Dovizioso, Pol Espargaró Villà, Jack Miller, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Darryn Binder, Takaaki Nakagami, Jorge Martin, Bo Bendsneyder, Alex Rins, Marco Bezzecchi, and Luca Marini.

There were also two Indonesian racers, namely Moto3 racer Mario Aji and IATC racer Veda Ega Pratama.

Upon their arrival, the racers parked their motorbikes on Medan Merdeka Utara Street and entered the palace veranda wearing their racing suit, accompanied by Dorna Sports CEO Carmelo Ezpeleta and Dorna Sports Managing Director Carlos Ezpeleta.

Their arrival was welcomed directly by President Jokowi. After that, they introduced themselves and had a talk with the President while enjoying the banquet that has been served.

They then took photos together at the Credential Room and the palace ground, where the President’s motorbike that was used to try out Mandalika Circuit was parked.

Closing the event at Merdeka Palace, President Jokowi and the racers headed to Medan Merdeka Utara Street. The President waved a flag to let them go on a parade to Bundaran HI and they immediately drove their motorbikes across Medan Merdeka and Thamrin street areas. The Parade was also enlivened by MotoGP fan club in Indonesia.

After this event, the racers are set to head to Lombok in order to prepare themselves to compete in the competition held at Mandalika Circuit in several days.

Also attending the event were Speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly Bambang Soesatyo and Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Erick Thohir. (TGH/UN) (DH/MMB)