Disappointment for dark horse Gresini: Alex Márquez and Aldeguer down

Partly thanks to the absence of Marco Bezzecchi and Marc Marquez at the 2025 Indonesian Grand Prix, Nadia Padovani’s Gresini team secured a front-row start at their final MotoGP appearance on Lombok. With the same line-up as in 2026, the riders were among the fastest in every session – finishing ahead of both the Lenovo factory team and the VR46 Racing riders, who are backed by the national oil company Pertamina.

Only the fiercely competitive Pedro Acosta was able to prevent a resounding triumph. Yet Fermin Aldeguer’s victory, complemented by Alex Marquez’s third place, counted among the finest moments for the Faenza-based team.

Twelve months later, Day 1 was anything but successful. Things went wrong right from the start in FP1 – Fermin Aldeguer was thrown from his GP25 at Turn 1. The good news: Aldeguer emerged unscathed and not only made it back onto the track, but also finished ninth, ahead of Alex Márquez.

Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini) erlebte einen Auftakt mit vielen Kratzern

Foto: Gold and Goose

Hours later, the mechanics for both riders had their work cut out for them. Aldeguer crashed, this time at Turn 13. ‘AM73’ handled it more skilfully, first setting a lap time that, with a bit of luck, should have been enough to secure direct entry into Q2 – and only then crashed off the current factory Ducati. The runner-up in the world championship then sat pensively in the pits with an ice pack on his elbow. After 60 minutes in the heat, he was 0.847 seconds off the top of the field.

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But the dilemma wasn’t over yet. Youngster and last year’s winner Aldeguer managed to get out onto the 4.3 km circuit once more, but was unable to mount a challenge – as the spare bike broke down. The youngest rider in the premier class ended up in the gravel – and, 1.4 seconds off the pace, missed out on a place in the second qualifying session.

The result: work is still in full swing in the Gresini Racing pit, whilst both potential frontrunners are undergoing massages and physiotherapy instead of making media appearances. Ahead of Saturday’s sprint race, they are only the third-strongest force in the Ducati camp, behind Ducati Lenovo and VR46 Racing.