MotoGP riders reflect on opening day of practice at Mandalika

MotoGP 2023

Round 15 – Indonesian Grand Prix

Friday MotoGP Rider Quotes

Aleix Espargaro – P1

“I am satisfied, I enjoy a lot riding the bike, even with used tyres, which is always the key for the races. Not a lot of stop and go corners here, a lot of flowing sections, low grip, so we know we before we came here it would be a good chance for us, and I am really enjoying the bike here so hopefully we can keep the momentum. It will be important to choose the right tyre, and not just for the rear, as it will be a touch choice between the soft and the medium for the front.”

Maverick Vinales – P2

“Enjoy so much, with the bike, but I have to say I also struggle with the tyre, we need to understand for tomorrow. I tried two different options, so we have a lot of data, and after that we need to keep working. It is always a matter of putting it all together and working out what is best for the bike.  I also need a better feeling on the gas, the connection.”

Marco Bezzecchi – P3

“A real race against time to get here in time for free practices. I landed in Lombok this morning and came straight to the track. After the operation, I tried to delay the departure as much as possible to make the most of these days of rest. Doctor Porcellini’s Team did a great job, also my coach Carlo and here in Indonesia Christian, the Team’s physiotherapist. This morning I had a first medical check and then a second at the end of the first free practice. Everything went well, obviously I’m not 100%, but I thought I would suffer more. I have pain, but after today, I can say that I can somewhat handle it. This track isn’t too physical and that helps too. The sensations are good, I managed to be fast. For tomorrow everything will depend on my physical condition.”

Brad Binder – P4

“Nice to be back here in Mandalika . Main thing today is we’re through to the Q2 again which is great… Few little things to iron out in the morning before giving it a full send in the afternoon.”

Marc Marquez – P6

“Today went a bit better than expected, jumping straight to Q2 was above what we thought was possible. Last year I struggled a lot here, but I am already feeling a lot better and I felt comfortable throughout the day. It was a little bit careful after the crash last year and with so many races in a row. The objective for tomorrow is to get the best starting position possible, so let’s see what steps we can make overnight.”

Miguel Oliveira – P7

“Today was good, finally on the last run on the soft rear I felt strong. There was a lot of yellow flags and I was getting impatient to get my lap. But at the end, I could do a clean lap. Honestly, I didn’t know whether it was enough but I’m happy to make it through to Q2. We still have some work to do for tomorrow morning, especially on the pace. The layout in Mandalika suits many aspects of our bike, I just need to take advantage of that. I think I can be closer to the factory boys than where I am now and that is the target.”

Fabio Di Giannantonio – P8

“As a first day it wasn’t too bad. We’ve been quick from the first run even if the feeling is not fantastic, especially in the quickest sections, but generally speaking everything is quite positive. The base is surely good. The new asphalt has more grip but there’s only one line to follow, otherwise it gets tricky.”

Jack Miller – P9

“Here we are in Mandalika! A couple leathers down, a couple fairings down and we’re into Q2 after a somewhat eventful day… but nah feeling relatively confident on the bike and we’re ready for whatever is thrown at us this weekend.”

Fabio Quartararo – P10

“We completed the objective. We also did a great lap time, but it was under a yellow flag, though I couldn’t see it until the last moment. But the target was met. We are not too bad at the moment. We don’t have the pace for a podium yet, but of course we will give our maximum to fight for the best possible position. I was super fast in Sector 2 last year, but this year we are struggling, so we will try to find a solution tomorrow.”

Pol Espargaro – P11

“We are 0.047 seconds from the Q2 today, and I think that we are really unlucky in that aspect this year. It is the third time this season that we finished in P11 and missed Q2 for nothing, but anyway, we should and can be a bit faster. In the end, there is not much difference between Jack Miller and myself, so we need to continue working hard and try to grab a few more hundredths to try qualifying for Q2.”

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Luca Marini – P12

“Not a perfect first day, I was hoping better with the pain. I have struggled just wearing the suit. I suffer when in braking and also in the left turns. In the second free practice I didn’t spend so much time on track, I started to have problems with the rear, I almost crash. I didn’t have confidence and we need to understand what happened. We have an idea about the direction to take, unfortunately I missed most of the session and this doesn’t help.”

Raul Fernandez – P14

“Honestly, today was not that good, I haven’t felt like this since Barcelona as I couldn’t ride the bike like I wanted and that is the reason I couldn’t go fast today, but we tried. The problem is, this weekend we have a different tyre compound, we had a very hard front tyre, which is quite difficult to work with. We needed to understand quickly on how to manage the race tyre with the setting on the bike. It was a really hard day, when we put the soft tyre it was even more difficult. I know our bike has the potential, our target is to be close to the factory Aprilia riders and we need to find the solution for tomorrow.”

Franco Morbidelli – P15

“It was an interesting day. This morning I had feeling, but this afternoon I had a completely different one. I had no rear grip or front feeling, so it was difficult. We have to do good work tomorrow to try to adjust everything, have a different feeling in many areas, and get into Q2.”

Francesco Bagnaia – P16

“Today I have two faces; one is happy that finally we found a good compromise for the set-up, I was feeling so good in braking and in entrance, my bike was following me very well; on the other side, I’m not feeling well with the electronics, which are not working as expected. I’m having a lot of movement and I lost the rear many times, I nearly crashed in the last attempt of time-attack, and I was lucky to remain on the bike. The last four weekends we have had some issues, and this was not the perfect way to start the weekend, but we will manage it, my team is ready for that and understands what happened. I’m not worried about Q1, it is just one session more where you must push and the last time I was in Q1, I won the GP.”

Takaaki Nakagami – P17

“This afternoon, the grip level was better than in the morning, but the main problem is with the soft rear compound; we need to find a solution on the bike because I didn’t have confidence. We are working hard to take a step forward for the Sprint”.

Augusto Fernandez – P18

“It has not been a bad day overall, but our position at the end of the day is not what we want. In the morning, we were not bad, and then the feeling was good at the start of Practice because we had made changes in the settings. But I crashed and I had to take my second bike which did not have the changes worked on. I struggled a bit more, and did not have the best feeling for the time attack. However, we have understood the direction we need to take for tomorrow, with the bike, but also with my riding style, so I am confident that we can make a good step on Saturday and have a good day.”

Joan Mir – P19

“It was a day of improvements. The base we had this morning wasn’t what we needed but, in the afternoon, we made a step in a good direction. Everything was working better, and I was feeling quite good, especially with used tyres. During my first attempt at a time attack I came across Marc on the track and he had a moment which disturbed my lap. On the second run, I was behind Pecco and there were yellow flags for the first two laps. On the final lap I was doing a good lap, I think good enough for the top ten, but I fell coming into the last sector. It’s a shame but we can fight for more tomorrow.”

Enea Bastianini – P20

“I’m happy to be back in the saddle of my Desmosedici GP. This morning went very well, and I found my speed straight away. I felt that physically, I was feeling quite good, so I was able to push. This afternoon however I made a few more mistakes, the conditions were different, so I struggled more to be fast. Then honestly at the end of the session, I was a bit tired, I made a mistake and crashed. Obviously, I couldn’t get directly into Q2, but overall, I’d say it was a positive day. Two difficult races certainly await me because physically I’m not 100% but I will try to stay in front and give my best.”

Alex Rins – P21

“I feel better than in Japan. Of course, I’m not at my 100%, but the important thing is that I’m getting the feeling again. We are still far in terms of lap times, and it’s what I expected, but we’ve reduced the gap, which motivates me to keep pushing”.

Alex Marquez

“With three back-to-back races we need to look at the bigger picture and the decision to not continue was the logical one. The pain on the bike is still quite sever and my fitness would not have been good enough to complete a race. Having said that, I hope I will feel better soon so I can give it another go in Australia. I’d like to thank the team for their unconditional support… we’ll be back soon.”

MotoGP Friday Practice Report

Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) took top honours in Friday afternoon’s Practice as he turned his session around with a 1:30.474 after hitting the deck earlier on, and it’s his team-mate Maverick Viñales in second as he also spent a lot of Friday towards the top end of the timing screens.

The headlines kept coming from there on out as a battered and bruised Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) took third despite an FP1 crash and coming back from recent collarbone surgery. And reigning Champion and Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) is on the back foot after a late mistake sees him heading for Q1.

With Friday afternoon’s Practice session deciding who goes through to Q2, the riders spent the majority of the session working on their race packages before putting in those late time attacks. With six minutes remaining, all riders were in the pits ready to fight for the all-important top 10, and the battle was about to commence with only a few bankers already set.

Bezzecchi already had his flyer in and was top of the pile after a heroic effort saw him move the goalposts at the 10-minute mark. But Aleix Espargaro had fire in his belly after crashing out of what was set to be a very hot lap earlier on, in the final five minutes he changed the benchmark time once more to smash the lap record and stamp his authority.

With the Aprilia on rails around Mandalika, Espargaro was then joined by team-mate Viñales as the factory Aprilia duo took the top two spots to demote Bezzecchi to P3.

With the chequered flag already out Bagnaia was sat outside of the top 10 but was motoring on, on course for a personal best before a mistake late in the lap saw him run wide at turn ten, following him in but with a much bigger impact was Joan Mir.

Bagnaia will be forced to go through Q1 with his title rival Jorge Martin comfortably sat in the top five just behind Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), who took fourth.

Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was next up in 6th. The Spaniard has been all over recent headlines after his switch to Gresini Racing MotoGP for 2024 was announced, but is proving there are still very much six Grands Prix remaining this year for him to keep pushing.

Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP), the rider Marc Marquez will be replacing, finished just behind the eight-time champ in P8, with Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) taking the final two Q2 spots in 9th and 10th.

Jack Miller had a couple of tumbles on Friday, one of those he blamed on Enea Bastianini cruising on the racing line.

There’s plenty of competition Bagnaia will have to contend with, as Pol Espargaro (GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3), Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team), and Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) will all be eyeing up the top two spots.

Equally with the Aprilia looking like a fine package in Indonesia, the CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team riders Raul Fernandez and Miguel Oliveira cannot be discounted either.

MotoGP Friday Practice Results

MotoGP Friday FP1 Resuts

MotoGP Championship Points

Moto2 Friday Practice

Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) proved what he’s made of on Day 1 at the Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia. The Championship leader topped the timesheets with a new lap record 1:34.456 saw him snatch the top spot as the day came to a close. Before Acosta pulled the pin it was Aron Canet (Pons Wegow Los40) who was leading the way. The Spaniard heads the chasing pack after falling 0.180s short of his compatriot’s time, with Sam Lowes (Elf MarcVDS Racing Team) also enjoying life in Mandalika to end Day 1 in P3.

Manuel Gonzalez (Correos Prepago Yamaha VR46 Team) was another who took well to the Pertamina Mandalika International Circuit. The Spaniard just missed out on the top three by 0.091s as he took fourth place ahead of Ai Ogura (IDEMITSU Honda Team Asia) who rounded out the top five.

Jake Dixon (Inde GASGAS Aspar Team) had a positive start to his weekend as he bagged P6, ahead of Fermin Aldeguer (Beta Tools SpeedUp). Aldeguer also made an incredible front-end save and was just 0.024s back from the Brit in P7. Albert Arenas (Red Bull KTM Ajo) takes eighth ahead of second in the Champioship, Tony Arbolino (Elf MarcVDS Racing Team). The Italian has some work to do as he finished the day 0.597s away from Acosta in P9. Sergio Garcia (Pons Wegow Los40) rounded out the top ten.

Moto2 Friday Practice Results (Combined)

Moto2 Championship Points

Moto3 Friday Practice

Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Ajo) found an extra gear on the opening day of the Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia as he went top with a 1:39.855 new lap record. Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI) was looking very strong as well as he took P2 and was the only other rider in the 1:39 club, just +0.232s shy of the top time. Leopard Racing’s Jaume Masia rounded out the top three, but after an slightly more adventurous morning than the Championship leader would have liked with two crashes in P1.

Matteo Bertelle (Rivacold Snipers Team) had another strong showing as he found himself in P4 on day 1, ahead of Ayumu Sasaki (Liqui Moly Husqvarna IntactGP) who rounded out the top five, the Japanese rider now second in the Championship.

Former leader and still very much key contender Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Tech3) was +0.415s off the pace, but ends Day 1 in P6 with his compatriot David Muñoz (BOE Motorsports) bagging P7. Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse) was just 0.020s further back in P8, and Stefano Nepa (Angeluss MTA Team) lost out to the SIC58 machine by only 0.005. Kaito Toba (SIC58 Squadra Corse) rounded out the top ten.

Joel Kelso ended day one less than a second off pacesetter Oncu, but that still put him down in P16.

Moto3 Friday Practice Results (Combined)

Moto3 Championship Points

Indonesian Grand Prix Schedule
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2023 MotoGP Calendar