An impressive run to the first corner put Luca Marini in the battle for the top ten as he worked to salvage a complicated weekend in Mandalika as Aleix Espargaro focused on bringing the Honda RC213V home.

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Indonesian Grand Prix - Sprint MotoGP 2026 Round 17 Saturday, 10th October 2026 Indonesian Grand Prix, Pertamina Mandalika International Circuit Lightning start to Indonesian Sprint delivers Marini into top-Honda battle An impressive run to the first corner put Luca Marini in the battle for the top ten as he worked to salvage a complicated weekend in Mandalika as Aleix Espargaro focused on bringing the Honda RC213V home. Not a moment to rest for Honda HRC Castrol as they worked tirelessly to improve the speed of Luca Marini and Aleix Espargaro in the ever-evolving conditions at the Mandalika International Circuit. Free Practice 2 saw Marini find some improvements to his feeling on the Honda while Espargaro suffered a harmless crash. A number of falls late in Q1 meant that Marini’s final laps in the session were compromised by the frequent yellow flags, the Italian starting in 15th place as a result. With making up ground the only option, the #10 authored one of his best starts of the year and found himself in ninth after the first corner. Six places gained, Marini spent the first half of the 13-lap Sprint battling with Fabio Quartararo before focusing on defence as he struggled for grip. 15th at the close, he was left puzzled by his drop in performance compared to 2025 but still has a few ideas for Sunday. Apart from his fall early on, Aleix Espargaro’s Saturday was compromised by his physical condition due to the injuries sustained earlier in the year limiting his training and time on the Honda. The ambient temperatures combined with the physical demands of the Indonesian track present a significant challenge even for those in their best physical condition, Espargaro soldering on to finish the Sprint in 20th regardless. The 27-lap Indonesian Grand Prix is scheduled to start at 15:00 Local Time with temperatures expected to climb even higher. A true physical challenge awaits the MotoGP World Championship grid. Luca Marini 10 Honda HRC Castrol “Another tricky day. In Qualifying the yellow flag cost us a lap and maybe I could have been in Q2 with another lap, but this can happen especially when the conditions are tricky like today. In the race I made a great start but then the grip dropped away and I was not able to ride how I wanted. The second half of the race was spent trying to save the work we did at the very start and hold onto my position. One more chance tomorrow.” Aleix Espargaro 41 Honda HRC Castrol “A difficult day today suffering with quite a lot of physical discomfort. The objective was just to finish the Sprint out of respect to the team for their efforts. The bike feeling with the bike is quite good and the crash we had was quite small. We need to check the situation for tomorrow and see what the best option is.” View full results

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