The leader of the World Championship will start from afar on the grid on Sunday for the Grand Prix.
Italian Luca Marini took pole position for the Indonesian Grand Prix on Saturday, the 15th round (out of 20) of the MotoGP season, on the Mandalika track in Lombok. The leader in the general classification, the Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), will be in danger and will only start on the 5th row at the start of the sprint race on Saturday (9:00 a.m.) and on Sunday on that of the Grand Prix (9:00 a.m.), after having only signed the 3rd time of the repechage session (Q1) which therefore did not allow him to access Q2. This is the first time this season that Bagnaia has not participated in Q2.
The top three in the world championship experienced complicated qualifying. The Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati-Framac), current runner-up to Bagnaia at only 3 points, set the 6th time after falling during Q2. The Italian Marco Bezzecchi, 3rd in the world championship, who returned to the handlebars of his motorcycle only a week after an operation for a broken collarbone, will start on the 3rd row after setting the 9th time.
Thanks to a new record time on the 4.3 km circuit with 17 turns (1’29”978), becoming the only one to go under one minute 30 seconds, Marini (Ducati-VR46) signed his very first pole position , to be ahead of the two Spaniards Maverick Vinales (ESP/Aprilia) and Aleix Espargaro (ESP/Aprilia) in the order. “I’m really happy with the work we’ve done. I think the sprint and the race on Sunday will be really difficult», Reacted Marini. “I will try to do my best and we will see what we can achieve».
Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) will start on the 2nd row after setting the 4th time. The other Frenchman Joahnn Zarco (Ducati-Framac), who went through the repechage session earlier in the morning, did not manage to make it through the 2nd qualifying session and will have to settle for 14th place and 5th row, just behind Bagnaia. The six-time world champion Marc Marquez, with the 8th time, will start from the 3rd row.
