MotoGP Indonesia Qualifying: Fernandez Upsets Everyone as Aprilia Runs Riot

Aprilia continues to dominate, but there is a “first time” on pole position. Here’s how the MotoGP qualifying session for the Indonesian GP at Mandalika unfolded.

Raul Fernandez is absolutely on fire in Indonesia, securing his first-ever MotoGP pole position today. He finished around a tenth of a second off the new outright lap record set yesterday, but the Trackhouse rider is truly flying around the Indonesian circuit. Could this be a “problem” for his fellow Aprilia riders battling for the title? Marco Bezzecchi will start from second on the grid, with Fabio Di Giannantonio third, while Marc Marquez is on the second row, directly ahead of championship leader Jorge Martin. The Sprint will get underway at 9:00 a.m. Italian time. Here’s how qualifying at Mandalika unfolded.

Toprak Razgatlioglu was also in action after his FP2 crash, which left him with a shoulder injury (here’s what happened). It was a particularly incident-packed session: Johann Zarco crashed twice, while Jack Miller and Ai Ogura also went down—the latter just after provisionally securing one of the two spots for Q2! Enea Bastianini and Diogo Moreira ended up at the bottom of the standings. In the end, the two qualifying places went to Ogura, who held on to P2, and Fermin Aldeguer, who topped the session.

Once again, the Aprilias immediately stood out, clearly showing their intent. So far, the RS-GPs have set the pace at Mandalika, especially Raul Fernandez, who has truly demonstrated something extra compared with his fellow Aprilia riders. A new record was not forthcoming—the benchmark had already been set yesterday—but Fernandez could finally breathe a sigh of relief: he had already come close to his first MotoGP pole, and this time he made it, with a tenth-of-a-second advantage over Marco Bezzecchi. Keep an eye on the battle at the top of the championship standings, slightly further back: Marc Marquez leads Jorge Martin, with just two points separating them, and from today’s Sprint onward, every point will be crucial.

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