Marco Bezzecchi ended an unpredictable and crash-filled opening day of the Indonesian Grand Prix weekend on top, while newly-crowned 2025 MotoGP champion Marc Marquez missed out on Q1 for the first time this year after crashing twice.
Luca Marini set the pace early for Honda in the hour-long practice session on Friday afternoon, immediately dipping under his FP1 benchmark with a time of 1m30.738s. He found another tenth-and-a-half soon after to stretch his advantage, before KTM’s Pedro Acosta shot to the top with a 1m30.435s.
Aprilia’s Bezzecchi then became the first rider to break the 90s barrier, firing in a 1m29.903s just before the halfway point to move the goalposts. The Italian then improved further to a 1m29.840s, putting four tenths between himself and his closest rival at that point, Acosta.
With 13 minutes remaining, Acosta briefly reclaimed top spot, but Bezzecchi immediately responded with a 1m29.240s flyer around the Mandalika circuit.
That time would remain unbeaten until the end of the session, as the British GP winner ended up more than four tenths clear of his nearest rival.
On a day when the factory Ducati team struggled, Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer finished a solid second on last year’s GP24, edging out the top KTM of Acosta by 0.016s.
Honda carried forward the momentum of its Japan podium, with Marini improving to fourth place at the end of the session. The Italian had set the quickest time on fresh tyres in FP1 earlier on Friday.
Marini’s efforts were complemented by teammate Joan Mir, who finished a solid sixth and just 0.038s slower than his teammate.
Although Aprilia is down to just two bikes this weekend following the withdrawals of Jorge Martin and Ai Ogura, it enjoyed a strong run in Friday practice as Raul Fernandez propelled the sole Trackhouse-run RS-GP to fifth between the two Hondas.
Marc Marquez, Ducati Team
Photo by: Robertus Pudyanto / Getty Images
Both factory Yamaha riders also earned a direct entry into Q2, as 2021 champion Fabio Quartararo and teammate Alex Rins finished seventh and eighth respectively.
Miguel Oliveira finished right behind the two on his Pramac Yamaha, while Alex Marquez rounded out the top 10 despite suffering a hefty crash at Turn 12 with three minutes to go.
However, the biggest storyline of Friday involved his brother Marc Marquez, who could only manage the 11th quickest time of the day on a track where he has never finished a grand prix.
Marquez hit the deck for the first time at Turn 1 in the opening 10 minutes of the session, but was able to quickly remount his bike and carry on. However, after being relegated to the bottom of the order in the wake of that spill, the factory Ducati rider crashed heavily at the exit of Turn 5 just after the halfway point of practice.
It wasn’t until the last 18 minutes of the session that he returned to the track on his second bike and, while he initially made it into the top 10, late improvements by others eventually dropped him just outside the Q2 cut-off.
His team-mate Francesco Bagnaia also endured a tough day in Indonesia, just five days on from his dominant Japan win, as he finished 17th in both sessions and more than 1.2s off the outright afternoon pace.
Indonesian GP – Friday practice results:
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– The Autosport.com Team
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