FP1, Mandalika: Bezzecchi unbeatable, Marc Marquez ahead of World Championship leader Martin

There was little to speculate about regarding the weather ahead of the first MotoGP session for the Indonesian Grand Prix. Not a trace of rain – all signs point to Round 17 of the 2026 World Championship season being a scorcher with consistent conditions. Rather, the temperatures on Lombok had the tyre engineers working up a sweat. As early as the start of FP1, track temperatures of 54 degrees were reported.

Twenty-one regular riders, plus substitute rider Aleix Espargaró, took to the track. The HRC test rider is standing in at Mandalika for Joan Mir, who fell ill at Misano. As early as the first free practice session, the Trackhouse riders took to the track once again in the Gulf livery. The VR46 team will not unveil their special livery in honour of the Indonesian title sponsor, Pertamina, until Sunday.

In the run-up to the GP, Aprilia was tipped as the favourite by a number of experts, and once the riders had completed their first flying laps on the Mandalika International Circuit, RS-GP rider Raúl Fernández was in the lead. The Trackhouse rider set the initial benchmark with a time of 1:31.0 minutes.

This was initially followed by a mixed bag of riders, including Di Giannantonio, Acosta, Aldeguer, the Marquez brothers and the two Yamaha riders, Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins. Motegi’s surprise package, Enea Bastianini, was also in the top 10 at the start.

By the end of the first quarter of an hour, the picture had changed. Fabio Di Giannantonio was the first rider to break the 1:30 mark. Fermin Aldeguer followed shortly afterwards in second place – the Spaniard had celebrated his first MotoGP victory at this very track a year ago. But Raúl Fernández immediately responded; ‘RF25’ clocked a time of 1:30.5 minutes, putting him in the ballpark of the fastest lap of 2025. By way of comparison, the lap record from Q2, held by Marco Bezzecchi, stands at 1:28.832 minutes.

Topic of the week

A stuttering start to the Bahrain Grand Prix: the FIA narrowly avoids a fiasco like the one in Indianapolis in 2005

Fans could hardly believe their eyes at what they witnessed at the Bahrain Grand Prix: cars crawling along, racing cars that simply came to a standstill. The FIA narrowly avoided a fiasco like the one at Indy in 2005.

Read More

TV Program

Tomorrow

Mandalika: International Livestream

MotoGP World Championship

10.10.2026 - 02:35

For the first time, the marshals had to spring into action. Honda rookie Diogo Moreira had skidded in Turn 1. As the RC213V had stalled, the uninjured Brazilian hurried back to the LCR pit on foot.

Halfway through the session, there was a mixture of joy and disappointment in the Aprilia camp. Whilst Bezzecchi took the lead with a time of 1:30.132, Ai Ogura crashed his Trackhouse Aprilia at high speed in Turn 7. The Japanese rider also escaped unharmed. The top 10 after 25 minutes: Bezzecchi, Fernandez, Di Giannantonio, Aldeguer, Martin, Rins, Marc Marquez, Bagnaia, Acosta and Quartararo.

Maverick Viñales fared better than on his return to Motegi. The Tech3 rider was 1.6 seconds off the pace, sitting in 16th place behind Zarco.

Shortly afterwards came the third crash: Gresini rider Aldeguer slid out in the first corner, just like Moreira. Meanwhile, at the front, the strength of the RS-GP was on display. Martin had moved up to P3, meaning there were three Aprilias at the front. Acosta remained the best-placed KTM rider in 9th. Pecco Bagnaia had to navigate a tricky situation. The Ducati works rider ran into Miller at high speed; Bagnaia had to swerve into the gravel but managed to stay on his bike.

Tension was also running high on the other side of the pits. Marc Márquez, in 7th place, was already almost 0.9 seconds behind Marco Bezzecchi and six tenths behind his World Championship rival Martin.

The final five minutes saw a dynamic performance from Pedro Acosta. The KTM rider moved up to 4th place, trailing the leader by just under three tenths of a second. Then, in the final laps, the world champion made his mark after all. Marc Marquez squeezed half a second out of the GP26 and moved up to second place two minutes before the chequered flag – overtaking Jorge Martin in the process.

Raul Fernandez consequently dropped to fifth place, whilst Di Giannantonio slipped to eighth, behind Morbidelli. Yamaha rider Quartararo once again earned respect in eighth place. The Frenchman finished FP1 ahead of Aldeguer and Alex Marquez.

Unsurprisingly, stand-in rider Aleix Espargaró was at the very back of the field. After a six-month break, the Catalan was 2.7 seconds off the pace set by Marco Bezzecchi. There was also no sign yet of the other Honda riders. Zarco was fastest in 14th place, ahead of Yamaha rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu.