MotoGP Mandalika 2026: Raul Fernandez pole, Marc Marquez fourth – detiksport

Trackhouse Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez secured his first career MotoGP pole position at the Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia 2026, clocking a lap of 1 minute 28.852 seconds during a qualifying session at the sirkuit Mandalika on Saturday, October 10, as detiksport reported that Fernandez led the grid ahead of the race. The Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia 2026 qualifying session took place on Saturday morning Western Indonesian Time at the Mandalika circuit in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara.

The qualifying format required riders to battle through two distinct phases. During the opening Q1 session, 12 riders fought for the final two advancement slots into Q2, including riders such as Alex Rins, Ai Ogura, Luca Marini, Fermin Aldeguer, and Maverick Vinales, with the top two earning tickets to Q2 for the pole position battle. The session saw multiple crashes, notably with Ogura sliding out at Turn 12 before recovering to secure his transfer alongside Aldeguer.

Transitioning into the decisive Q2 shootout, Ducati Lenovo’s Marc Marquez initially set the standard as riders tested the limit on a circuit where crashes had disrupted practice sessions. However, Aprilia machinery quickly answered. Marco Bezzecchi briefly took provisional pole with a 1 minute 28.961 seconds lap before Fernandez improved upon it with his benchmark 1:28.852.

Fernandez noted that managing rear medium tire degradation was key to maintaining rhythm through the sweepers, particularly through the technical challenges of Sector 4. Behind the pole-sitter, Bezzecchi claimed second place, just 0.109 seconds back, while Pertamina VR46 Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio rounded out the front row in third.

Marc Marquez managed fourth place with a time of 1 minute 29.426 seconds according to track timing reports, admitting satisfaction with a top-five start that exceeded initial expectations despite trailing the Aprilia pace by 0.701 seconds from Fernandez, who set a Mandalika lap record of 1 minute 28.725 seconds. Jorge Martin took fifth on the second factory Aprilia, followed by Fermin Aldeguer in sixth. Rounding out the top twelve grid positions for the upcoming race are Ai Ogura in seventh, Alex Marquez eighth, Pedro Acosta ninth, Francesco Bagnaia tenth, Franco Morbidelli eleventh, and Fabio Quartararo twelfth.

Riders Manage Throttle to Avoid Running Wide

In Sector 4, specifically across turns 11 to 15, riders needed to carefully manage their throttle openings to avoid being overly aggressive, as pushing too hard through turns 14 and 15 causes the bike to run wide and loses time at turn 16.