I want to get this weekend over with

Factory Ducati MotoGP rider Marc Marquez admitted he simply wants to get through the Indonesian Grand Prix weekend after suffering two crashes in Friday practice and being forced into Q1 for the first time in 2025.

The Mandalika International Circuit has been one of the weakest tracks for the newly-crowned 2025 champion, who has never finished a grand prix in Indonesia after three attempts.

While his impressive form this year suggested that he was in for a better showing this time around, Marquez started the weekend on a tough note, suffering a low-speed crash at Turn 10 in practice before a bruising highside at the exit of Turn 5 wrecked his primary bike.

Although he managed to return to the track on his second GP25 in the final third of the session, he eventually dropped outside the top 10 and finished 11th, ending his perfect run of automatic Q2 entries this year.

Although he will have an opportunity to get into Q2 and fight for pole position on Saturday, Marquez ruled out any possibility of scoring a 15th sprint victory of 2025 in Indonesia.

“No, because I don’t feel like pushing again,” he lamented. “I started optimistically this weekend, but it’s not my circuit. I just want to pass the weekend and wait until Australia.

“Of course, I will try. Tomorrow I will start to push and I can crash again. Because I cannot go out to the track just thinking to not crash. I go out and I will push again. 

“But from 11th, you cannot go to the top straight away. Especially with [Marco] Bezzecchi who is flying. Then we are there, but if we can finish in the top five, it will be a success.”

While Marquez’s first crash was relatively minor, and he could even remount on the bike and carry on, he suffered a major highside at Turn 5 around halfway through practice.

The seven-time MotoGP champion had already slipped to 20th and last on in the timesheets when he hit the ground for the second time, putting extra pressure on him as he returned to the track on his second bike.

Gradually getting up to speed again, Marquez set a time of 1m30.053 that earned him a provisional entry into Q2, but he was dumped outside the top 10 as others improved.

The 32-year-old explained that a combination of yellow flags, tyre wear and his own conservative mindset prevented him from going any faster in the final minutes of the session.

“The strategy was not to crash two times,” he said. “When I just crashed two times, especially the second one, the strategy was to finish the session and pass, and tomorrow will be another day.

“Just with the second tyre, we went out together from the box, and of course at that time I was inside Q2, so there was no reason to push in front, but then the problem is that we took three yellow flags in a row.

“Then on the fourth lap, already the tyre started to drop, but the priority was not to crash another time, because I didn’t have the feeling today. So let’s see, tomorrow we will retry.”

Marquez, who finished fifth in FP1, added: “In the morning I felt super good. Just in the afternoon, I go out and I start to suffer a lot with the rear, and then on the time attack again, I take again the confidence, but I didn’t have enough confidence to push to the limit, because the second crash, after being a champion, it’s not the best way to celebrate, so I just closed a bit more than usual.”

Marquez wasn’t the only high-profile rider not to make it to Q2, with team-mate Francesco Bagnaia, VR46 duo Franco Morbidelli and Fabio di Giannantonio and KTM’s Brad Binder also failing to make the cut.

Given the competition, the Spaniard admitted that he will face tough competition in securing one of the only two remaining spots in the final part of qualifying.

“The main target was to try to jump on Q2 because Q1 will be difficult to pass,” he said. “A lot of fast riders there. Let’s see tomorrow morning where we are and what we can do.”

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– The Autosport.com Team