What a wild Saturday. As Motorsport.com reports, Marc Marquez pulled off a surprise victory in the dramatic Indonesian Grand Prix sprint race at Mandalika, a result that puts the Ducati Team rider at the front of the MotoGP world championship standings for the first time in 2026.
That stunning shift at the top came after chaos broke out right at the start. It was truly a case of 'four into one doesn't go' at Turn 1, where a controversial first-corner incident eliminated Aprilia's two quickest riders. Knowing they faced a speed deficit to the Aprilias, the Ducatis understood they needed to get their noses ahead at the first corner. But it wasn't just the factory bike of Marquez who got away well enough. Fabio Di Giannantonio on the VR46 bike pulled inside the lot of them, grabbing the best position into the opening right-hander.
Next in the line-up under braking was Marco Bezzecchi, with Raul Fernandez on the extreme outside. While there was no contact with the Ducatis, Bezzecchi was off the ideal line and slightly wrong-footed by the two Bologna bikes on his inside. He lost his factory Aprilia all on his own, tagging Fernandez's Trackhouse bike as he went down. There was no investigation given the lack of contact or foul play, but the carnage instantly removed pole-sitter Fernandez and Bezzecchi from contention.
Di Giannantonio lost time through the first corner despite going into it in the best spot, which put Jorge Martin into a surprise early lead aboard an Aprilia. The man to emerge right behind him was none other than his title rival Marquez, who started the race two points behind Martin and was supposed to be in damage limitation mode. Martin appeared to take the race by the scruff of the neck when he set fastest lap on lap four to stretch out a 1.4s lead.
That wasn't the end of the drama. The Aprilia appeared to let Marquez through into the lead on lap nine, with the most likely explanation being a tyre pressure warning on Martin's dashboard. Once he had settled back into his groove, Martin looked like he might be lining up a late attack on Marquez. But when he ran wide on the penultimate lap, it was clear Marc had the race in the bag.
The mistake cost Martin further points as he dropped behind Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) and Di Giannantonio, leaving Martin to settle for fourth on Saturday despite leading most of the race. Behind them, Alex Marquez finished fifth for Gresini Ducati, and Pedro Acosta came home sixth after a long lap penalty for exceeding track limits. Acosta had run with Ogura and Di Giannantonio until that point.
Rounding out the points-scorers, last year's winner Fermin Aldeguer took seventh, with Francesco Bagnaia and Fabio Quartararo finishing behind him.
