That said, here is the reality of the situation as Motorsport.com reports: sometimes a racing team has to look at the calendar and simply brace for impact. Lenovo Ducati team manager Davide Tardozzi has made it clear that dropping 10 or 12 points at the upcoming Indonesian Grand Prix would not be a bad outcome for the factory squad. It is a remarkably pragmatic stance from a management figure, especially when every single marker counts in a razor-thin title fight.
The math at the top of the standings makes every weekend critical, and Jorge Martin currently holds a lead of a mere two points heading into the weekend over Marc Marquez. But according to Tardozzi, the Mandalika circuit simply does not suit the current GP26 machine properly. Speaking to TNT Sports after the Japanese Grand Prix, which Marquez won to take maximum points for the weekend, the boss did not hide the fact that rival machines—primarily Aprilia—are expected to hold a speed advantage at the seaside venue.
Of course, nobody in red wants to wave the white flag before the lights go out. Tardozzi was quick to clarify his remarks, emphasizing that the team travels to Indonesia with victory as the ultimate target as always. Even so, the brutal history at Mandalika cannot be ignored. The track has never seen Marquez finish a MotoGP race there, and it was the very scene of the serious accident with Marco Bezzecchi that curtailed Marc's 2025 season. Last year's event saw the factory Ducati outfit struggling for pace entirely, forcing Marquez into an uncharacteristic ninth-place start on the grid.
There are, admittedly, rays of hope tucked away in the past results. Ducati machinery has claimed three consecutive victories at Mandalika, with Francesco Bagnaia taking top honors in 2023, Jorge Martin winning for Pramac in 2024, and Fermin Aldegeuer taking victory on an older Gresini bike last year. But those statistics will do little to soothe the personal demons Marquez faces at a track that has treated him so harshly.
Ultimately, Tardozzi is banking on the sheer strength of character inside his garage to navigate the weekend's difficulties. In the end, the boss pointed out, Marquez is a true leader who knows precisely how to push the personnel around him and extract the right kind of support. Rather than getting bogged down by every single flaw of the beast beneath him, the Spaniard has a unique knack for focusing on the machine's strengths to drag it through tough weekends.
