Raúl Fernández topped Friday’s MotoGP Practice session at the 2026 Indonesian Grand Prix, setting a new lap record at the Mandalika International Street Circuit. The Spanish Trackhouse rider delivered an impressive performance to finish ahead of Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martín, completing an Aprilia sweep of the top three positions.
Pedro Acosta finished fourth aboard his KTM, while Marc Márquez secured fifth place despite struggling in several sections of the circuit and suffering a late crash. Francesco Bagnaia completed the top ten, narrowly securing direct qualification for Q2.
Aprilia Sets the Pace from the Opening Stages
Extreme track temperatures made Friday afternoon’s session particularly demanding, with the air temperature reaching 29°C and the asphalt climbing to 65°C.
Tyre management quickly became a central focus as teams evaluated different compounds ahead of Saturday’s Sprint and Sunday’s main race.
Most riders began the session using a soft front tyre and a medium rear, while others experimented with the softer rear compound to assess its durability over longer runs.
Marco Bezzecchi established himself at the front early on, demonstrating Aprilia’s strong performance around the Indonesian circuit. However, Raúl Fernández soon emerged as his closest challenger, consistently matching and improving on the Italian’s lap times.
As the session progressed, Aprilia’s advantage became increasingly evident, particularly through Mandalika’s technical sections.
Fernández Breaks the Mandalika Lap Record
The decisive moments came during the final 14 minutes, when riders fitted fresh soft tyres in pursuit of a lap time good enough to secure direct entry into Q2.
Fernández made the most of his Aprilia RS-GP, improving his previous benchmark by approximately half a second and breaking the circuit record established by Bezzecchi in 2025.
The Trackhouse rider finished approximately four tenths ahead of his nearest rival, underlining his strong pace on a circuit that appears particularly well suited to the Aprilia package.
Bezzecchi secured second place, while Jorge Martín completed the top three, confirming the Italian manufacturer’s competitiveness ahead of qualifying and the Sprint.
Marc Márquez Struggles in the Fast Corners
Marc Márquez endured a more challenging session aboard his Ducati.
The Spaniard encountered particular difficulties in Mandalika’s second sector, where the fast right-hand corners exposed a significant performance deficit compared with the Aprilia riders.
Márquez was losing between three and four tenths of a second through that section alone, making it difficult to challenge the leading times.
Despite those difficulties, he managed to secure fifth place behind Pedro Acosta, ensuring direct qualification for Q2.
However, his final attempt ended in a crash at Turn 16, bringing out yellow flags and disrupting several riders’ flying laps.
Shortly afterwards, Álex Rins also crashed at Turn 17, extending the yellow-flag period and preventing further improvements.
Bagnaia Secures Q2 as Several Riders Crash
Francesco Bagnaia also experienced a difficult afternoon.
The Ducati rider narrowly avoided crashing at Turn 3, the same corner where he had already experienced a major moment during the morning’s Free Practice session.
Nevertheless, the Italian managed to set the tenth-fastest time, claiming the final automatic place in Q2.
Enea Bastianini endured an even more frustrating session, crashing twice, first between Turns 7 and 8 and later at Turn 17.
Fermín Aldeguer also struggled, falling during the early stages before his Ducati GP25 suffered a technical problem while he was outside the top ten.
There was also an incident involving Franco Morbidelli and Aldeguer, with the Italian expressing his frustration after encountering the slower Spanish rider heading towards the pit lane. Race stewards subsequently announced an investigation.
Fabio Quartararo suffered a crash between Turns 7 and 8 but was able to continue despite appearing to be in discomfort. The Yamaha rider eventually finished seventh, showing encouraging signs of improvement.
Ai Ogura, meanwhile, was dealing with discomfort in his right little finger following a crash earlier in the day. Yellow flags during the closing stages also affected his opportunity to improve.
Indonesian MotoGP: The Ten Riders Through to Q2
Aprilia dominated Friday’s Practice classification, securing the first three positions, while KTM and Ducati completed the top five.
| Position | Rider | Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Raúl Fernández | Aprilia |
| 2 | Marco Bezzecchi | Aprilia |
| 3 | Jorge Martín | Aprilia |
| 4 | Pedro Acosta | KTM |
| 5 | Marc Márquez | Ducati |
| 6 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | Ducati |
| 7 | Fabio Quartararo | Yamaha |
| 8 | Álex Márquez | Ducati |
| 9 | Franco Morbidelli | Ducati |
| 10 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati |
All ten riders advance directly to the second qualifying session.
Álex Rins, Jack Miller, Ai Ogura, Luca Marini, Fermín Aldeguer, Toprak Razgatlıoğlu, Brad Binder, Johann Zarco, Diogo Moreira, Maverick Viñales, Enea Bastianini and Aleix Espargaró will have to compete in Q1.
Espargaró, Honda’s test rider, is competing in Indonesia as a replacement for Joan Mir.
Aprilia Emerges as the Early Favourite at Mandalika
Friday’s results suggest that Aprilia has established a clear advantage at Mandalika, with Fernández, Bezzecchi and Martín all showing strong single-lap performance.
Yamaha demonstrated some improvement through Quartararo, while Honda struggled to match the leading manufacturers.
For Ducati, the main challenge will be reducing the gap to Aprilia, particularly in the faster sections of the circuit where Márquez experienced the greatest difficulties.
With qualifying and the Sprint still to come, Fernández heads into Saturday as one of the leading contenders, although Bezzecchi, Martín and the Ducati riders will be looking to close the gap as the Indonesian Grand Prix weekend continues.