Fabio Quartararo and co. crashed on Friday at Mandalika – What’s bothering him and Marc Márquez – Enea Bastianini crashes twice in the space of a few minutes
Apart from the dominance of the Aprilia riders, the MotoGP practice day ahead of the 2026 Indonesian Grand Prix at Mandalika was marked by numerous crashes. Across all three World Championship classes, there were a total of 20 crashes on Friday at the Mandalika International Circuit. Exactly half of these occurred in the premier class.
In the first free practice session in the morning (FP1), there were three crashes in the MotoGP field: Diogo Moreira, Ai Ogura and Fermin Aldeguer. In the afternoon session, seven crashes were recorded, with Aldeguer and Moreira involved once again. Apart from that, Enea Bastianini also crashed twice, both times in the afternoon. Alex Márquez, Alex Rins and, last but not least, Fabio Quartararo also went down.
Quartararo’s crash was the most severe, as it happened at a speed of around 200 km/h in Turn 8. This is the fast left-hander in the second sector of the circuit. Immediately preceding Turn 8 is Turn 7, a fast right-hander.
“Normally, I’m really quick through fast corners. But Turn 7 is one of my worst corners on the entire calendar,” reveals Quartararo, who emerged largely unscathed from his crash in the immediately following Turn 8. As for the cause, the Yamaha works rider has a clear explanation.
“I was trying something different on that lap. I was riding about half a metre off the ideal line. It’s dirty there and as soon as I leaned into the corner, my front wheel slipped out from under me. It was my fault because I was a bit off the ideal line. I just wanted to try something different,” said Quartararo.
Fortunately, the 2021 MotoGP World Champion “didn’t break anything in the crash, but the muscles in my thumb are a bit sore, so I’ll probably wake up with sore muscles tomorrow morning”.
As Friday’s practice session continued, Quartararo didn’t just return to the track on his second bike. Finishing seventh fastest, he even managed to secure direct qualification for Q2.
Quartararo explains: “The problem is the gravel trap”
For Quartararo, the problem with the crash at Turn 8 wasn’t the crash itself or the high speed, but the fact that – much like Marc Marquez during his crash on the first lap of last year’s Grand Prix – he was thrown off balance by the gravel trap and subsequently hurled through the air.
” I was lucky that the crash itself was unspectacular. But when you hit the gravel trap, it becomes critical. They really need to do something about this area,” says Quartararo, calling on the track operators at Mandalika and the International Motorcycling Federation to take action. His suggestion: “The gravel trap should be level with the tarmac.”
“In fact, the gravel trap is a bit higher. If you hit it, you’re catapulted into the air. I think, as it is, it’s too high,” warns Quartararo, echoing the sentiments of Marc Marquez’s colleagues following his crash last year.
Criticism of the gravel traps also from Marc Marquez
Speaking of Marc Marquez, he has once again voiced criticism this year about the conditions at Mandalika. Admittedly, the seven-time and reigning MotoGP World Champion did not crash himself on Friday. But what struck him was: “They’re always trying to keep costs down. To be honest, the best way to save money would be to protect the riders and motorbikes from such crashes.”
“This section of the track,” says Marquez, referring to Sector 2, “is extremely fast, as we all know. If you hit a gravel trap there at high speed, the damage is already done. The thing is, we riders can’t scrutinise every single corner. That’s the job of the people who work here.”
Enea Bastianini with two crashes within 11 minutes
It wasn’t just Fabio Quartararo; Enea Bastianini also crashed at Turn 8 on Friday. For the Tech3 KTM rider, this was the first of his two crashes that afternoon. The second happened just 11 minutes later on his second bike at Turn 16.
Speaking about his two crashes in a single session, Bastianini said: “On my first fast lap, I made a big mistake. It was simply too early to be pushing so hard. I was leaning too far over and the front wheel slipped out from under me. The bike then literally exploded in the gravel trap. At moments like that, you think of the mechanics. And to make matters worse, I crashed on the second bike as well.”
According to Bastianini, there’s a reason why there were 10 crashes in the MotoGP class alone on Friday – and as many as 20 across all three World Championship classes: “The grip level was very low today. There was significantly less grip than usual – very strange. If you go just a bit beyond the limit by trying to take a corner a fraction faster, a crash happens very quickly.”
