The Indonesian Grand Prix weekend delivered two completely different races from the same starting grid, ironically just days after MotoGP announced that it will introduce a second qualifying session at each weekend from 2027.
This means that both Ducati and Aprilia scored a win apiece in Mandalika, and the championship fight remains finely poised between them heading to Australia in a fortnight.
The contrasting results between the two races make it hard to judge who gained and who lost over the weekend. Nonetheless, here are our winners and losers from MotoGP’s Indonesian Grand Prix.
Winner and loser: Aprilia
Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team, Raul Fernandez, Trackhouse Racing, Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
The Indonesian GP marked the first time Aprilia had locked out the top four spots in a MotoGP race. The Noale-based manufacturer had already swept the podium a few times this year, but everything had to come together for it to deliver a historic result at Mandalika.
Each Aprilia rider played their part. Marco Bezzecchi produced his best performance in months to win, Raul Fernandez delivered a heroic ride with a broken finger, Jorge Martin passed Marc Marquez for a podium, and Ai Ogura showed his trademark late-race pace to charge from seventh to fourth. Mandalika was arguably the best track on the calendar for the RS-GP, and the Aprilia riders capitalised on the opportunity on Sunday to win.
However, it is impossible to assess Aprilia’s weekend by looking at Sunday’s results in isolation, because the sprint was a nightmare for the manufacturer. Fernandez and Bezzecchi colliding in an opening-lap melee was bad enough, but what followed afterwards only compounded the damage. Fernandez broke the index finger that he uses for braking, and he also launched a tirade at Bezzecchi in the press. The whole sequence of events is likely to have soured the relationship between only two Aprilia riders who will stay with the manufacturer next season.
As if that wasn’t enough, Martin had to surrender the lead due to a tyre pressure issue, before making a crucial mistake while trying to regain position over his title rival Marquez.
Overall, Aprilia can take satisfaction from the fact that it now holds a 12-point lead over Ducati in the constructors’ standings, after the two arrived into the weekend level on points. But it will also know that its historic Sunday result came after a sprint in which it threw away a potential victory.
Loser: Tyre pressure rule
Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, Marc Marquez, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
One of MotoGP’s most unpopular rules returned to the spotlight as several leading riders struggled to keep their tyre pressure above the minimum limit during a hot and sunny weekend in Mandalika.
On Saturday, Martin lost a near-certain victory after surrendering a lead of over 1.5s when the dashboard on his Aprilia sounded an alarm over falling tyre pressures. Ironically, this brought a surprise twist to the race, and was good for the show and the championship battle between Aprilia and Ducati.
However, what followed on Sunday left a sour taste among viewers. Marquez and Pedro Acosta spent well over a third of the race switching places as they tried hard to meet the minimum tyre pressure rule for the prescribed number of laps. The way they moved aside to yield position to the other made for a poor spectacle, and Acosta even said that the rule makes MotoGP riders look like “donkeys”.
Maverick Vinales got a penalty for an infringement, despite racing at the back of the grid, showing why a rule – which exists to prevent teams from gaining a sporting advantage – can feel needlessly punitive.
It remains to be seen whether riders will have to resort to such desperate tactics to maintain tyre pressure when Pirelli replaces Michelin as the official supplier in 2027.
Winner: Marc Marquez
Marc Marquez, Ducati Team
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
Marc Marquez arrived in Indonesia with his past struggles at Mandalika weighing on his mind. Even Ducati conceded that it was prepared to lose 10-12 points on a weekend in which it was not expected to pose any meaningful challenge to the Aprilias.
But even though Marquez was downplaying his chances, he quickly discovered that Ducati wasn’t so far behind Aprilia as many had feared, leaving him with an opportunity to fight for a solid result.
He used the reduced performance deficit to his advantage in qualifying, disrupting Martin’s rhythm by following him on their second and final runs in qualifying. It was ultimately a simple mind trick, one that he has used successfully before, but it allowed him to start both races ahead of his chief title rival.
What followed at the start in Saturday’s sprint wasn’t Marquez’s fault. If anything, the Aprilias were beaten off the line by the Spaniard yet again. More importantly, he was in the right place when Martin subsequently slowed with tyre-pressure issues. And when Martin tried to retake the position, Marquez held his ground and forced his rival into a mistake, claiming a victory that had seemed highly unlikely before the weekend.
Normal service did resume on Sunday, where the reigning champion lacked the pace to even finish inside the top five. But by winning the sprint and limiting the damage in the grand prix, he gained valuable points and strengthened his bid for a 10th world title.
Loser: Honda
Luca Marini, Honda HRC
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
This was easily Honda’s worst performance of the year. At every round prior to the Indonesian GP, Honda had been able to place at least one bike inside the top 10. However, given how much it struggled at Mandalika over the weekend, it was a surprise that it even finished inside the points.
From Friday onwards, all four Honda riders couldn’t make the RC213V work, repeatedly expressing their bafflement at the lack of speed in Indonesia. Worse still, Diogo Moreira and Johann Zarco crashed far too often, showing how difficult the bike was to handle.
Little changed for the Japanese manufacturer on Saturday, with its top-placed rider – Johann Zarco – finishing 17s off the top in a 13-lap sprint.
It wasn’t until Sunday that Honda found some sort of a breakthrough, with Luca Marini in particular making a strong launch to run ninth until the final 10 laps. Only a severe tyre drop-off left him 12th at the finish.
Still, Marini couldn’t help but think about how Honda had gone backwards at a track that has traditionally suited it in the past. Only last year, the Italian had finished the Indonesian GP in fifth place, and just 1.2s off the podium position. This year, he was half a second slower in qualifying compared to 12 months ago, even as the pole time remained virtually the same.
It must also be mentioned that Aleix Espargaro had to withdraw from Sunday’s race to make sure he was fit for this week’s 850cc test in Malaysia.
Fermin Aldeguer, Gresini Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images
This was a weekend to forget for Fermin Aldeguer, the winner of last year’s Indonesian GP. The Gresini rider lacked the pace of his Ducati compatriots all weekend, and was the third-slowest rider in Saturday’s sprint.
Things went from bad to worse on Sunday, when he crashed out at the final corner on lap 2. This was Aldeguer’s fourth crash of the weekend, with the impact leaving him with a fracture in the first metacarpal bone in his right hand.
As such, Aldeguer will be returning to Spain to undergo surgery, with little time between now and the Australian GP to make a recovery. Considering he was already struggling with a previous leg injury, this was hardly the kind of news Aldeguer needed.
Meanwhile, Toprak Razgatlioglu dislocated his right shoulder in a nasty highside on Saturday morning, becoming another victim of the unforgiving Mandalika track. Incredibly, he was able to put the bone back in place and finish both qualifying and the sprint. But the effects of the crash became more severe on Sunday, forcing him to pull into the pits after just eight laps.
The Pramac rider will return to Italy on Monday for further medical assessment, after which doctors will determine the next steps in his recovery.
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