Marco Bezzecchi will sit on pole position for the Tissot Sprint and Sunday feature race at the Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia. The Italian broke the all-time lap record at the Mandalika track with a time of 1:28.832. There was plenty to celebrate for Aprilia as Raúl Fernández qualified in third for the Trackhouse MotoGP Team. Fermín Aldeguer split the two Aprilia riders to qualify in second. But where were the rest of the Ducati bikes? Find out where they will start from for the Indonesian GP.
Superstar Heavyweight Contenders Battle It Out in Q1
After Friday’s Practice session, some significant names took part in the first qualifying session of the day. For the first time in 2025, World Champion Marc Márquez found himself in Q1 alongside his Ducati Lenovo teammate, Francesco Bagnaia, and fellow Ducati riders Fabio Di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli. With only two to go through into the next qualifying session, the pressure was on. Unfortunately for Bagnaia and Morbidelli, they will both be starting further down the grid in the Tissot Sprint and the race on Sunday.
The majority of the riders were on the soft front and rear tyres, except for Enea Bastianini, who opted for the medium front tyre. The Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider’s choice impacted his performance, leaving him at the bottom of the timesheet until a few minutes before the session ended. Unfortunately, he pushed it too far to crash in Sector 1 on the checkered flag. The stronger performer of the earlier Free Practice 2, Jack Miller, was the last to put in a lap time, three tenths outside of the coveted 1:29s. He did manage to get there in the end, but it wasn’t enough to advance. M.Márquez rolled out of what would have been a personal best lap of Q1, but still graduated into Q2 behind Di Giannantonio.
The Fight For Pole Position
The promoted riders joined Marco Bezzecchi, Fermín Aldeguer, Pedro Acosta, Luca Marini, Raúl Fernández, Joan Mir, Fabio Quartararo, Alex Rins, Miguel Oliveira, and Álex Márquez. They spared no time getting started on time attacks, with all four Ducati competitors coming to the top first. But Bezzecchi cleared them all by nearly half a second in his first run. Acosta came close to the #72 by a tenth of a second as they neared the halfway mark, while Quartararo had a rapid crash into the gravel trap in Turn 15 before he could do anything about it. The #20 came out for his second run a short time later on the backup Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Team bike.
Aldeguer also had to use his spare BK8 Gresini Racing machine, the first one refusing to spark to life after he returned to the pit box with five minutes remaining. Bezzecchi put in the first 1:28 lap at the Pertamina Mandalika Circuit, securing pole position with Aldeguer and Fernández joining him. M.Márquez could not improve as he remained in ninth, as his younger brother crashed out of the session. Rins looked on par to gain a front row box, but pushed his Yamaha too far and crashed after the checkered flag ended Q2.