Marc Marquez won the 13-lap Indonesian MotoGP Sprint at Mandalika and moved into the 2026 championship lead after a race that was reshaped at the opening corner. Jorge Martin inherited first place in the incident’s aftermath, but a loss of momentum with five laps remaining allowed Marquez through. Martin then made another mistake on the penultimate lap and finished fourth, behind Ai Ogura and Fabio di Giannantonio.

A chaotic first corner

Raul Fernandez had taken his first MotoGP pole position, with factory Aprilia rider Marco Bezzecchi alongside him and VR46 Ducati’s Fabio di Giannantonio completing the front row. Fernandez and Bezzecchi were both caught up at Turn 1 as Marquez and di Giannantonio went down the inside. The contact involved Fernandez’s front wheel and sent the two front-row starters out of the immediate fight, opening the way for Martin to lead.

Martin stayed ahead until he suddenly sat up with five laps to go. Marquez took advantage, while Martin tucked in behind the Ducati. Low tyre pressure was the obvious explanation for the Aprilia rider’s loss of pace, but it was not confirmed. Martin appeared capable of fighting back before a further error on the penultimate lap dropped him to fourth. Ogura moved into second and di Giannantonio completed the podium.

What shaped the weekend

Every rider selected a soft tyre at both ends of the motorcycle except Johann Zarco, who used a medium rear. In qualifying, Marquez deliberately followed Martin on his final run, with both title contenders starting from the second row behind Fernandez, Bezzecchi and di Giannantonio. The Sprint was due to start at 3pm local time, or 8am in the UK.

Fernandez had already set the pace in Friday practice. Marco Bezzecchi then put Aprilia on top in an interrupted final practice session, finishing ahead of Fernandez and Marquez. The session was stopped after ten minutes following a highside for Toprak Razgatlioglu, who dislocated his right shoulder before having it put back into place and returning to the pits. Razgatlioglu ultimately came back to start 19th.

Ai Ogura and last year’s Indonesian Grand Prix winner Fermin Aldeguer reached Qualifying 2 by leading Qualifying 1. Ogura had only one motorcycle after crashing in Q1, while Aldeguer fell in Q2. The official Mandalika records list Fernandez as the 2026 best-lap holder with a 1m 28.725s lap; the fastest race lap remains Aldeguer’s 1m 30.499s from 2025.

The result followed a decisive Motegi weekend for Marquez, who took both victories in Japan and reduced Martin’s championship advantage to two points before Mandalika. Bezzecchi had won last year’s Indonesian Sprint from pole, then collided with Marquez in the Grand Prix. The wider weekend also brought a Honda rider change: Aleix Espargaro stepped in for Joan Mir at the factory Honda team, with Somkiat Chantra back in WorldSBK and Takaaki Nakagami injured.