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- Marc M\u00e1rquez admitted that winning the Indonesian sprint had not been his original objective<\/strong>, given Aprilia’s superior pace at Mandalika.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- The Ducati rider revealed that he nearly crashed during the opening laps<\/strong> and had to change his approach before recovering.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- M\u00e1rquez capitalised on Jorge Mart\u00edn’s difficulties to win the sprint and take a four-point championship lead<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Marc M\u00e1rquez has admitted that winning the Indonesian MotoGP sprint was not part of his original expectations<\/strong>, after overcoming an early scare and taking advantage of Aprilia’s difficulties to claim victory at Mandalika and move into the championship lead for the first time in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Ducati rider arrived in Indonesia expecting to struggle against the Aprilias, which had dominated Friday’s Practice and occupied the first two positions on the starting grid. However, a first-corner incident eliminated Ra\u00fal Fern\u00e1ndez and Marco Bezzecchi, while Jorge Mart\u00edn eventually surrendered the lead amid tyre-pressure problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
M\u00e1rquez went on to win the 13-lap race ahead of Ai Ogura and Fabio Di Giannantonio, collecting 12 points and moving four ahead of Mart\u00edn in the championship, 343 to 339<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/AFP__20261009__D2PX9QE__v1__MidRes__MotoPrixInaMotogp-1024x683.jpg\")
Marc M\u00e1rquez (Photo: AFP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n M\u00e1rquez admits victory was not his original target<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
M\u00e1rquez had already acknowledged before the weekend that Mandalika was unlikely to favour his Ducati, particularly through the circuit’s flowing corners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Spaniard had struggled to match Aprilia over a single lap during Friday’s Practice, although he believed his race pace was more competitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His prospects changed immediately after the start when Fern\u00e1ndez and Bezzecchi collided at Turn 1, removing two of the strongest contenders from the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
M\u00e1rquez also experienced a difficult opening phase, revealing afterwards that he had come close to crashing and needed to reduce his pace to regain control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Ducati rider subsequently remained close enough to Mart\u00edn to benefit when the Aprilia rider encountered difficulties with his front tyre pressure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
‘You have to chase luck,’ says M\u00e1rquez<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
M\u00e1rquez acknowledged that the circumstances of the race had worked in his favour, despite the problems he encountered during the opening laps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou have to chase luck,\u201d the Spaniard said after the sprint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The eight-time world champion had not expected to challenge for victory after seeing Aprilia’s pace throughout the weekend, but the incidents involving Fern\u00e1ndez and Bezzecchi transformed the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mart\u00edn initially appeared capable of winning, but a front tyre-pressure problem forced him to allow M\u00e1rquez through with five laps remaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Aprilia rider subsequently made another mistake while attempting to recover, running wide and dropping to fourth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As GRANDE PR\u00caMIO<\/a><\/strong> reported in its complete Indonesian sprint coverage<\/a>, M\u00e1rquez crossed the line 0.509s ahead of Ogura, with Di Giannantonio completing the podium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
M\u00e1rquez turns difficult Mandalika weekend into championship advantage<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The victory was particularly significant because M\u00e1rquez had never previously completed a Sunday MotoGP Grand Prix at Mandalika.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He arrived at the Indonesian circuit two points behind Mart\u00edn, having reduced the championship gap through a series of strong results during the second half of the season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Ducati rider had also acknowledged before the weekend that he wanted to score as close as possible to the maximum 37 points available, despite Aprilia’s expected advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His victory produced the seventh change of championship leader in 2026<\/strong>, continuing a season in which Pedro Acosta, Marco Bezzecchi, Mart\u00edn and M\u00e1rquez have all occupied first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GRANDE PR\u00caMIO<\/a><\/strong> documented all seven championship lead changes<\/a>, including the latest reversal at Mandalika.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mart\u00edn’s tyre-pressure problem opens the door<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mart\u00edn had led much of the sprint after the opening-corner incident, but his race was compromised by a front tyre-pressure problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Aprilia rider explained that an error in tyre preparation prevented him from maintaining the required minimum pressure while running at the front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He deliberately allowed M\u00e1rquez through to increase the tyre temperature and pressure while following another motorcycle, but subsequently ran wide while attempting to recover the position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe win and we lose together,\u201d Mart\u00edn said after the race.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The complete explanation of Mart\u00edn’s tyre-pressure problem<\/a><\/strong> is available in GRANDE PR\u00caMIO<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
M\u00e1rquez now leads the championship with 343 points to Mart\u00edn’s 339<\/strong>, with another 25 points available in Sunday’s Grand Prix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The complete Indonesian MotoGP schedule, including qualifying and broadcast information<\/a> is available in GRANDE PR\u00caMIO<\/strong>‘s weekend guide. GRANDE PR\u00caMIO<\/strong> provides full coverage of the MotoGP<\/a> championship.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Marc M\u00e1rquez reveals he nearly crashed during the opening laps of the Indonesian sprint and explains how a difficult race at Mandalika turned into victory and the MotoGP championship lead<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1020317616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"42wp_featured_image_caption":"Marc M\u00e1rquez","42wp_featured_image_credits":"AFP","42wp_featured_video":"","42wp_featured_image_hidden":false,"42wp_authors_list":[{"id":59,"location":""}],"footnotes":"","42wp_breaking_news":false},"categories":[38],"tags":[108,581,52,104],"42wp_author":[59],"class_list":["post-3729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motogp","tag-ducati","tag-indonesian-gp","tag-jorge-martin","tag-marc-marquez","42wp_author-fabricio-carvalho"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3729"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3730,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3729\/revisions\/3730"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1020317616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3729"},{"taxonomy":"42wp_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grandepremio.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/42wp_author?post=3729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
- The Ducati rider revealed that he nearly crashed during the opening laps<\/strong> and had to change his approach before recovering.<\/li>\n\n\n\n