MotoGP Indonesian GP: Bastianini on record pace to beat Martin to top spot

Bastianini tops Friday practice in Indonesia with MotoGP lap record pace

Enea Bastianini carried his Misano momentum into the Indonesian Grand Prix by topping the timesheets in Mandalika during Friday practice.

Just days after clinching his second victory of the season in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Bastianini would emerge out front again come the end of Friday action at the Lombok venue courtesy of a scintillating new lap record with just under 10 minutes of the session remaining.

With the Italian heading up an all-Ducati top five, and take seven of the top 10 automatic Q2 spots, the scant 0.370s margin covering the top 10 was indicative of the fine margins between the pacesetters.

Initially it appeared Jorge Martin would be destined for Friday’s bragging rights after setting a mighty benchmark of 1m29.670s with almost 15 minutes of the session to go, already almost three tenths under Luca Marini’s erstwhile lap record.

However, after chipping away at his Ducati stablemate’s advantage, Bastianini surged to the summit of the leaderboard with an unmatched 1m29.630s lap with eight minutes on the clock remaining.

Ensuring a 1-2 at the flag for the Misano sparring partners, Bastianini and Martin were chased by Franco Morbidelli in third place, the Italian - who set the pace in FP1 - consolidating a strong opening day for both himself and the Pramac Ducati team to finish less than a tenth off the top.

Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Having spent much of the opening practice session putting in the slog of fine-tuning his race set-up, Francesco Bagnaia spared some blushes with a late ascent from outside the top 10 to an eventual fourth, while Marco Bezzecchi also left it until the final seconds to see out of the top five.

Fabio Quartararo ended the day as the highest-placed non-Ducati in sixth, the Frenchman once more demonstrating glimmers of hope that Yamaha is edging back towards competitive form by comfortably booking his place in Q2.

Despite having to deploy one of his signature saves during a near-low side early on in the session, Marc Marquez recovered to seventh, while Pedro Acosta and Fabio Di Giannantonio in eighth and ninth also made it safely through to Q2 despite each enduring a tip-off during the session.

Completing the top 10, Maverick Vinales nabbed the 10th and final direct Q2 slot, the Spaniard denying an unfortunate Johann Zarco, who was within a tenth of earning LCR and Honda a rare automatic trip to the latter stages of qualifying.

Regardless, the Japanese manufacturer - yet to achieve a top 10 race result in 2024 - will head into Saturday feeling optimistic after Marini complemented his fellow RC213V rider by ending the day in 12th.

Alex Rins was 13th as Yamaha out-performed the factory KTM squad, the Austrian firm’s representatives looking at sea as Brad Binder - who suffered a fall at Turn 10 - and Jack Miller languished down in 14th and 16th.

Johann Zarco, Team LCR Honda

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

Between them, Aleix Espargaro was twice a faller at Turn 16 en route to 15th, while Alex Marquez was also left to rue a crash at the same spot in the final minutes, scuppering a lap that was likely to haul him into the top 10, but instead left him 21st and last.

Meanwhile, Miguel Oliveira will play no further part in this weekend’s event after being diagnosed with a fractured wrist in the wake of his high-side at Turn 4 during FP1. The injury means the Trackhouse Aprilia rider will miss next weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix at Motegi too.

MotoGP Indonesian GP - FP2 results

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	E. Bastianini Ducati Team	23	Ducati	25	1'29.630		173.111	315
2	J. Martin Pramac Racing	89	Ducati	25	+0.040 1'29.670	0.040	173.034	316
3	F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing	21	Ducati	21	+0.079 1'29.709	0.039	172.959	314
4	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	1	Ducati	23	+0.082 1'29.712	0.003	172.953	314
5	M. Bezzecchi Team VR46	72	Ducati	28	+0.140 1'29.770	0.058	172.841	312
6	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	29	+0.214 1'29.844	0.074	172.699	312
7	M. Marquez Gresini Racing	93	Ducati	27	+0.255 1'29.885	0.041	172.620	314
8	P. Acosta Tech 3	31	KTM	20	+0.331 1'29.961	0.076	172.474	316
9	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	24	+0.356 1'29.986	0.025	172.426	308
10	M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team	12	Aprilia	26	+0.370 1'30.000	0.014	172.400	313
11	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	26	+0.456 1'30.086	0.086	172.235	312
12	L. Marini Repsol Honda Team	10	Honda	26	+0.466 1'30.096	0.010	172.216	312
13	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	27	+0.559 1'30.189	0.093	172.038	312
14	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	26	+0.573 1'30.203	0.014	172.012	316
15	A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team	41	Aprilia	25	+0.675 1'30.305	0.102	171.817	313
16	J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	43	KTM	27	+0.781 1'30.411	0.106	171.616	313
17	T. Nakagami Team LCR	30	Honda	26	+0.813 1'30.443	0.032	171.555	310
18	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	26	+0.977 1'30.607	0.164	171.245	313
19	J. Mir Repsol Honda Team	36	Honda	25	+1.162 1'30.792	0.185	170.896	314
20	A. Fernandez Tech 3	37	KTM	25	+1.265 1'30.895	0.103	170.702	312
21	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	21	+1.368 1'30.998	0.103	170.509	308
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