Indonesian MotoGP at Mandalika: Schedule, Times and the Márquez-Martín Title Fight

The Indonesian Grand Prix, round 17 of the 2026 MotoGP season, is being held from October 9 to 11 at the Mandalika International Street Circuit on the island of Lombok, according to Crash.net. The race weekend has turned into a pivotal moment in the title race between Ducati's Marc Márquez and Aprilia's Jorge Martín, who arrived separated by only a handful of points.

Championship battle tightens after the sprint

Márquez won Saturday's 13-lap sprint race, according to Crash.net and the motorsport outlet MCNews.com.au, retaking the overall championship lead. The result put him on 343 points against Martín's 339, a four-point gap, per the updated standings published by Crash.net. Marco Bezzecchi is third on 284 points and Pedro Acosta fourth on 247, both outlets reported.

MCNews.com.au described how the sprint unfolded: Martín led the race after first-corner contact eliminated pole-sitter Raúl Fernández and Bezzecchi, built a lead of about 1.7 seconds, then had to manage a front-tyre pressure problem that forced him to slow and let Márquez through. A mistake at Turn 15 on lap 12 dropped Martín to fourth place, the outlet reported. Once past Martín, Márquez said he focused on keeping a safety margin at the front, citing Ducati's known difficulties at Turn 2, according to MCNews.com.au.

Qualifying: Fernández surprises, title rivals start from row two

Raúl Fernández, riding for Trackhouse Aprilia, took his first MotoGP pole position with a lap of 1m28.852s, according to MCNews.com.au and the specialist site The Race. Bezzecchi qualified second and Fabio Di Giannantonio third to complete the front row. Márquez qualified fourth and Martín fifth, separated by roughly three-hundredths of a second, both outlets said.

The Race reported that Aprilia had been expected to dominate qualifying but ended up taking only the first two grid spots, through Fernández and Bezzecchi, since Martín and fellow Aprilia rider Ai Ogura qualified further back. Fernández fractured his right index finger when he and Bezzecchi crashed at the first corner of the sprint, MCNews.com.au reported, leaving his participation in Sunday's main race uncertain.

Crash.net reported that for Sunday's 27-lap Grand Prix, Márquez and Martín again line up on the second row, in fourth and fifth, with the outlet noting that a win by either rider on Sunday would put him back on top of the championship standings.

Sunday's schedule and how to watch

Mandalika runs on Indonesia's WITA time zone (UTC+8). Crash.net and the German outlet Speedweek.com both published session times for the weekend; the figures below combine those two sources, converted to the main regions where MotoGP has large audiences.

In the United Kingdom, Crash.net reported that TNT Sports, available via the HBO Max platform, carries full race-weekend coverage, while MotoGP's own Video Pass streams every session worldwide on a season or monthly subscription.

Background

This year's event carries the commercial name Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia, as shown on MotoGP's own video coverage of the weekend. Speedweek.com described Márquez's four-point lead over Martín as part of a championship battle it called especially tight heading toward the end of the season.

• Marc Márquez (Ducati): 343 points, championship leader after the sprint — Crash.net
• Jorge Martín (Aprilia): 339 points, four behind Márquez — Crash.net
• Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia): 284 points, third — Crash.net
• Pedro Acosta (KTM): 247 points, fourth — Crash.net