Jorge Martin grabbed an early psychological advantage as MotoGP’s form man led Free Practice 1 at Mandalika in Indonesia.
The Spaniard leapt to the head of the timesheets inside the final minute on the Pramac Ducati, knocking Aprilia’s Maverick Viñales off the top spot by a tenth of a second, with Aleix Espargaro third on the other factory RS-GP.
Martin, a double winner at the previous round at Motegi in Japan two weeks ago, is only three points behind Francesco Bagnaia with six rounds of the championship left.
Reigning champion Bagnaia was sixth on the factory Lenovo Ducati, just under eight tenths slower than Martin.
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez, whose move to the Gresini Ducati team in 2024 has now been confirmed, was 14th-fastest in FP1.
All riders opted for the medium Michelin rear tyre and were initially very cautious on the slippery track, which has been resurfaced over the past year, after a number of incidents in Moto3 and Moto2 practice.
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Alex Marquez opted to wait for around five minutes in the team garage before venturing out. Marquez is making a comeback this weekend after sustaining fractured ribs in India in September.
After 10 minutes, it was Aprilia’s Viñales at the top of the times with a 1:33.200s ahead of Marc Marquez and RNF Aprilia rider Miguel Oliveira, who won the inaugural Mandalika MotoGP race on a KTM in 2022.
Viñales improved to a 1:32.651s with Martin gaining ground as he moved to second, half a second down.
Italy’s Marco Bezzecchi, who fractured his collarbone last weekend in a training accident, returned to the pits after doing an initial six laps. Bezzecchi was seen in conversation with his VR46 Ducati team and race doctors, but gestured that he wished to press on and returned to the track.
Oliveira was a faller at Turn 11 after losing the front of the satellite Aprilia.
Bagnaia was 14th after 25 minutes, 1.592s off Viñales’ pace.
Marquez had a big moment when the rear of his factory Honda broke traction as he peeled into a fast right-hander, but the Spaniard avoided crashing as he ran off track.
Bagnaia went top briefly with around 15 minutes remaining before he was demoted to second by Viñales, who upped his pace to a 1:32.039 to go 0.531s clear.
Luca Marini, back in action after he broke his collarbone when he hit the back of team-mate Bezzecchi’s machine in the Sprint race in India, climbed to third with Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Ducati) fourth ahead of Fabio Quartararo, eight tenths down.
Aleix Espargaro progressed to second, 0.308s behind Viñales, for an Aprilia one-two inside the final 10 minutes.
Alex Marquez, who had a scare some minutes earlier when he lost the rear of his Ducati, slid off at Turn 1 with less than five minutes left.
With just under one minute remaining, championship challenger Martin clocked the fastest time in 1:31.811s after pulling a late lap out of the bag to lead Viñales by 0.102s.
Espargaro held onto third as Franco Morbidelli had a strong finish to the 45-minute session on the Monster Energy Yamaha in fourth, seven tenths off Martin’s time.
Bezzecchi was fifth even though he suffered a fast spill at Turn 11 with seconds left, sliding into the gravel before quickly getting to his feet. The Ducati rider only underwent surgery on his fractured collarbone on Sunday.
Bagnaia finished sixth, 0.759s adrift of title rival Martin, with Red Bull KTM team-mates Jack Miller and Brad Binder seventh and eighth respectively.
Enea Bastianini, returning from hand and ankle injuries sustained at Catalunya, was ninth on the Lenovo Ducati with Marini rounding out the top 10, one second exactly off Martin’s benchmark.
Yamaha’s Quartararo dropped to 12th, with Marc Marquez slipping down the order to 14th, behind LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami.
Alex Rins, who broke his leg at Mugello, was 21st and 1.8s off the pace as he attempted another comeback after withdrawing from the Japanese Grand Prix on his return two weeks ago at Motegi.
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