MotoGP Indonesian Grand Prix: Raul Fernandez on top as Aprilia dominates
· Yahoo Sports
Aprilia lived up to expectations at Mandalika on Friday, with Raul Fernandez breaking the lap record to lead a 1-2-3 for the Italian marque in Practice.
Only the factory riders, Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin, were able to get within half a second of the Trackhouse rider, who was consistently fast throughout the day on the island of Lombok.
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Pedro Acosta (KTM) and Marc Marquez (Ducati) booked their tickets into Qualifying 2 with fourth and fifth places respectively, ensuring the top four in the championship will be in the Q2 mix. But both have a considerable lap time deficit to ponder.
Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) was sixth-fastest, with team-mate Franco Morbidelli joining him in Q2 with ninth spot.
Fabio Quartararo wowed onlookers by delivering the seventh-fastest time despite a violent tumble through the gravel midway through the session. He limped away from the fall and spent a few minutes nursing his left wrist in the factory Yamaha garage before emerging to improve his time and book his passage to Q2.
Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) was lucky to remain in the top 10 despite crashing with a couple of minutes remaining. The resulting yellow flags may have helped his cause, as did those produced by late falls for Alex Rins (Yamaha) and Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM).
Francesco Bagnaia dodged the yellows on the second factory Ducati to sneak into tenth spot at the very end of the session.
2025 Indonesian Grand Prix winner Fermin Aldeguer endured a nightmare day that included a crash in the morning, another crash early in the Practice session and then an apparent technical issue just when it was time to push for laps. Unsurprisingly, the Gresini rider was unable to trouble the top 10 and may struggle to repeat his 2025 exploits from there.
The only Aprilia not flying on Friday was the Trackhouse entry of Ai Ogura, who fell in the morning and was unable to find both speed and a clear track at the same moment. He'll be joined in Q1 by Bastianini, who racked up two falls in the afternoon session and will have to work hard to deliver another weekend like he did in Japan last time out.
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