Raul Fernandez Secures Maiden MotoGP Pole at Indonesian Grand Prix as Marquez Outqualifies Martin

Raul Fernandez claimed his first MotoGP pole position at the Indonesian Grand Prix on Saturday, while Marc Marquez qualified fourth to edge out title rival Jorge Martin.

Trackhouse rider Fernandez improved to a 1m28.562s on his final run to beat the factory Aprilia of Marco Bezzecchi by a tenth of a second, after the latter was forced to abandon his best lap due to yellow flags.

VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio completed the front row in third place, while reigning champion Marquez put his factory Ducati in fourth ahead of championship leader Martin.

During the opening runs in Q2, Bezzecchi established the early benchmark for Aprilia, setting a best time of 1m28.961s to claim provisional pole position.

Friday pacesetter Fernandez went second aboard the Trackhouse Aprilia, 0.211s down on Bezzecchi, while Marc Marquez set a strong time to go third-quickest ahead of fellow Ducati riders Fabio di Giannantonio and Alex Marquez.

At this stage, championship leader Martin stood eight tenths down in seventh place, behind even the KTM of Pedro Acosta.

As the riders returned on track on fresh soft tyres, Fernandez began lighting up the timesheets, finding a tenth over Bezzecchi’s previous time to go to the top.

As Bezzecchi returned on track, he appeared on course to set an even quicker time, but had to back out of the lap after a crash for Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer in the final two minutes triggered yellow flags at Turn 16.

The Italian attempted one final flying lap, but with his tyres past their peak, he could do nothing to catch Fernandez, who secured Trackhouse’s first pole position since Ai Ogura topped the Czech GP qualifying in June.

Meanwhile, Marquez followed Martin on track in a tactical game, prompting Aprilia to alert the latter about the world champion’s presence via the dashboard. Even after Martin rolled out of his lap to regroup, Marquez followed him off the track, leaving them both in the same part of the track.

Both riders improved their times, but Marquez went 0.034s quicker on the Ducati to qualify fourth, consigning Martin to fifth on the grid.

Aldeguer managed to hold on to sixth despite his late crash, while Trackhouse’s Ogura recovered to seventh after breaking his finger on Friday and crashing again in Q1.

Alex Marquez wound up eighth, two places behind team-mate Aldeguer, while Acosta and Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia completed the top 10.

VR46’s Franco Morbidelli was next up in 11th, while 2021 champion Fabio Quartararo ended up 12th aboard the lead Yamaha after securing a direct entry into Q2 on Friday.

Factory Yamaha rider Alex Rins set the fastest sector 1 of any rider in Q1, but ultimately fell a tenth short of dislodging Ogura and securing a passage into the second leg of qualifying.

Much like Friday Practice, Q1 turned out to be a crash fest, with no fewer than five riders hitting the deck: Ogura, Enea Bastianini, Jack Miller, Diogo Moreira and Johann Zarco.

While Ogura was fortunate to get into Q2 based on his early flying lap, a late crash for Bastianini cost him dearly, leaving him 14th behind Rins.

The Italian was followed by the top Honda of Luca Marini and factory KTM rider Brad Binder, with Miller eventually ending up 17th for Pramac.

Bastianini’s team-mate Maverick Vinales managed to stay upright to qualify 18th, just edging out Pramac’s Toprak Razgatlioglu.

Razgatlioglu suffered a nasty highside during the final practice on Saturday morning, with the impact dislocating his right shoulder. He was able to put it back in place and return to action, but could only manage 19th on the grid.

LCR’s tough weekend continued as both Zarco and Moreira fell again on Saturday, ending up at the last row on the grid alongside Honda’s test rider Aleix Espargaro, who was substituting for Joan Mir.

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