The Beast turns up the wick in Practice to bag a new Mandalika lap record as Bagnaia leaves it late to pocket P4.
A new Pertamina Mandalika International Circuit all-time lap record belongs to Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) after the #23 topped the Practice timesheets on a scorching afternoon in Indonesia. The Emilia-Romagna GP winner surfed his way to a stunning 1:29.630 to lead Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) by just 0.040s, as the World Championship leader’s teammate Franco Morbidelli and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) round out a top four split by less than a tenth.
It was a fairly eventful start to proceedings on Friday afternoon as we saw Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3) crash at Turn 1 in the opening 10 minutes, before we witnessed a classic Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) save – the #93 dug his right elbow and knee into the asphalt and somehow kept his Ducati GP23 sunny side up at Turn 10. Incredible.
A quieter part of the session – in terms of the outright pace – then took place as riders ran through their respective Practice checklists, and despite the crash, Acosta led to timesheets from Marc Marquez heading into the final 25 minutes of Friday afternoon with a 1:30.411.
Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) was the first rider to slot in a fresh soft rear Michelin tyre for a time attack, and the Italian climbed to P2 on his first effort – 0.004s away from Acosta.
With 13 minutes to go, Martin propelled himself to the summit with a 1:30.317 as we strapped in for the Friday afternoon all-in laps. On his next flyer, Martin destroyed the lap record after landing a 1:29.670, with Bagnaia’s first effort 0.888s adrift on his main title rival. The second attack from Pecco was an improved one, but a lap only good enough for P9.
The other Ducati Lenovo Team rider wasn’t suffering the same troubles though. Bastianini was the new session pacesetter with eight minutes left after ‘The Beast’ set a 1:29.630 – 0.040s faster than Martin. Meanwhile, a crucial final four minutes were coming up for Bagnaia as he found himself in P12. That was soon P9 as Bagnaia improved, as Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) crashed at Turn 16 while shadowing the reigning World Champion.
And when it mattered most, Bagnaia delivered. The #1 went P9 to P3 before Morbidelli popped up to P3 to demote his compatriot down to P4, as the session ended without any dramas for the top four in the World Championship chase.
Bezzecchi found a late time to earn P5 on Day 1 in Indonesia, with Fabio Quartararo again impressing on his Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™ machine to stick his YZR-M1 in P6 – a phenomenal effort from the Frenchman. Marc Marquez will head straight into Q2 in P7, as the eight-time World Champion completed his good deed of the day to help Pecco get back to the box after the Italian ran out of fuel.
Acosta, Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) and Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) are the other riders heading into Q2 automatically, as Johann Zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) and Luca Marini (Repsol Honda Team) miss out by less than a tenth in P11 and P12 as Honda continue to show signs of progression.
So that’s another Friday in the history books. Now, attentions turn to qualifying and the Tissot Sprint as another super Saturday awaits in Indonesia, and as always, you can catch it all on motogp.com!
FP2: 10:10 (UTC +8)
Q1: 10:50
Q2: 11.15
Tissot Sprint: 15:00
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