Aprilia shines in Indonesian Grand Prix

The dramatic 12-lap Sprint race in Lombok saw first-time pole-sitter Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Racing) and Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) crash at the first corner. Tyre pressure issues then forced Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) to surrender the race lead to title rival Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team), along with his lead in the championship standings. But 24 hours later, the dominance we expected to see from the Noale factory was well and truly on display in the 27-lap Indonesian Grand Prix.

It was Fernandez from Bezzecchi into the first corner when the lights went out, with a trio of Ducatis in Marquez, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Fermin Aldeguer in hot pursuit, while Martin dropped to sixth after starting fifth on the grid. Japanese star Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Racing) had a tough opening lap, with both Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing) and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM) relegating him to ninth.

Riding with two broken fingers on his right hand, Fernandez looked keen to open up a gap between himself and the rest of the field. Last year’s winner Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Racing) got through on Di Giannantonio to put himself between the two title rivals, Marquez and Martin, with the latter also getting through on the VR46 rider. But Aldeguer’s fourth crash of the weekend came on just lap two, as Fernandez posted the quickest lap of the race thus far.

With Martin now all over Marc’s rear tyre, his move for third came towards the end of lap three as he and teammate Bezzecchi traded fastest laps of the race. Acosta, in fifth, began to look menacing as he was all over the rear tyre of Marc Marquez. And while the move for fourth came on lap seven, Martin was already a second or two up the road, leaving Acosta’s front tyre exposed and at risk of dropping below the required pressure.

Meanwhile, Bezzecchi was plotting a move on Fernandez. He was the first rider to put in a race lap in the 1m29s bracket on lap 10, but a gritty Fernandez responded and kept his factory counterpart at bay. The way Bezzecchi seemed to be all over Fernandez’s rear tyre before dropping back and repeating the process over a handful of laps suggested he too might have been managing his front tyre temperature.

Battling only himself, Martin had found himself in a lonely third place. A couple of seconds behind Bezzecchi and a couple of seconds ahead of Acosta, it was a race of concentration for Martin, who arrived in Indonesia with a slim two-point advantage over Marquez.

Confirmation of Acosta’s front tyre woes came when he allowed Marc Marquez through on lap 13. Slotting in behind the factory Ducati, the young Spaniard clearly had superior pace but needed to bide his time in Marquez’s hot air to avoid a 16-second time penalty at the end of the race. After a lap or two, Marc signalled Acosta back through. And while it appeared he too might have needed the warmer air to manage his front hoop, he later admitted that he found it easier to follow someone rather than lead, calling it purely strategic.

The pair would eventually swap positions a handful of times, a rather farcical situation when one rider is fighting for a world championship. But up ahead, Bezzecchi’s move on Fernandez came at the start of lap 19, when he got superior drive out of the final turn and pulled alongside him on the straight.

From lap 19 onwards, Bezzecchi was untouchable. He put his head down and put 1.9 seconds between himself and the injured Fernandez by lap 21. Ogura had dragged himself onto the back of the Marc-and-Pedro battle and cleared the factory Ducati star for fifth on the same lap. Keen to find a way past Acosta, Ogura found the KTM rider wasn’t giving up fourth place without a fight. The pair swapped positions three times on lap 25 before Ogura’s Aprilia got the better of the KTM.

Bezzecchi started the final lap more than three seconds clear of Fernandez, who in turn had another two seconds over Martin. Having cleared Acosta, fourth was the best Ogura could manage, some five seconds behind Martin. And when they reached the chequered flag, Aprilia had scored its first top-four lockout in a full-length grand prix.

Pedro Acosta was the best of the rest in fifth, ahead of Marquez in sixth. His brother Alex was seventh, some six seconds further back, ahead of Di Giannantonio, Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) and Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM), who rounded out the top 10. Aussie Jack Miller crashed out of the race on lap six after qualifying 17th.

In terms of points, Martin leaves Indonesia with the same two-point advantage he arrived with. It’s 355 to 353, with Bezzecchi now 46 points behind and still in with a shot on 309. Ogura moves up to fourth overall with 259 points, ahead of Acosta in fifth on 258. Miller stays in 19th with 28 points.

The series now makes its way to Australia for the final Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island before it moves to the Adelaide street circuit from 2027. Practice kicks off on Friday 23 October.