Luca Marini returns to happy hunting grounds in Indonesia, joined this weekend by Honda HRC Development Rider Aleix Espargaro.
Indonesian GP Preview |
MotoGP 2026 |
Round 17 |
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Tuesday, 6th October 2026
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Indonesian Grand Prix, Pertamina Mandalika International Circuit
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Aleix Espargaro joins Luca Marini for Indonesian Grand Prix
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Luca Marini returns to happy hunting grounds in Indonesia, joined this weekend by Honda HRC Development Rider Aleix Espargaro.
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Jumping straight on a flight from Tokyo to Lombok, Indonesia, the Honda HRC Castrol team wasted no time in arriving for round 17 of the 2026 MotoGP World Championship. The 4.3 kilometres of the Mandalika International Circuit present an intense physical challenge due to the demanding layout and often extreme weather conditions the weekend can produce. Indonesia always offers the warmest of welcomes with millions of Honda fans throughout the country and the Honda RC213V having traditionally shown strong pace in Lombok.
Some of Luca Marini’s best moments as an official Honda rider have come in Indonesia including a fighting fifth there in 2025 – his equal best result on the Honda RC213V to date. Showing strong potential already in other Grands Prix such as Hungary and San Marino this season, the #10 has the cards in hand necessary to put together a competitive weekend and prime himself to make the most of any opportunities which arise. As ever, the weather will be a key factor during the whole weekend and both rider and team must remain ready to adapt. Attacking from the first moment on Friday and earning direct passage into Q2 will be the first crucial objective of the weekend.
Joining Marini inside the Honda HRC Castrol garage for the Indonesian Grand Prix will be Honda HRC Development Rider Aleix Espargaro as Joan Mir continues his recovery at home. Espargaro is no stranger to Lombok, but will need to get up to speed quickly after his early year injury has limited his time on the Honda this season. The objective for the weekend will be for Espargaro to reacquaint himself with the Honda RC213V before refocusing his attentions on development work behind the scenes.
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Luca Marini 10
Honda HRC Castrol
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“I’m looking forward to this weekend as Mandalika is a circuit I really enjoy and the last two years it has been a really strong track for us. It will be important to work in the correct way and avoid some of the mistakes we made last week in Motegi, the team and I have shown that we are always able to improve over the course of the weekend so I am confident that if we are strong on Friday we can put something together. Indonesia is also a really special country when you’re a Honda rider and it’s great to see all the Honda fans there – Satu Hati!”
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Aleix Espargaro 41
Honda HRC Castrol
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“Of course it is always a great honour to join the factory Honda team in MotoGP and I want to say thank you to them for trusting me to ride while Joan and Taka recover. After the crash at the start of the year and my injury, I have not had as much time on the bike as I would like and we travel to Mandalika with realistic expectations as I’ve had only a small numbers of laps and it’s a really physical track before we even speak about the weather. Let’s understand how we can best help the team and Honda this weekend and focus on that.”
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