Jorge Martin made a big statement to the rest of the field, dominating his way to the MotoGP pole position at the Indonesia Grand Prix.
Martin’s lap time of 1.29.088s was a cut above the rest, with Marco Bezzecchi and Pedro Acosta being his closest challenges. Martin clinched pole with himself and Bezzecchi separated by 0.535s
Early on, Marc Marquez was shadowing behind the rear of Martin’s rapid Pramac on his first run before crashing at the fast Turn 15.
Yellow flags were called out to sort out the Gresini bike in the run-off, leaving championship protagonist rider Bagnaia with more work as his lap was called off.
Bagnaia’s second lap was then invalidated due to track limits, which surprised him when he returned to the pitlane.
Enea Bastianini crashed at Turn 16 not long after Marquez, but the crash was so minor he picked his Ducati back up again and continued with ease.
By this point, only half the riders had formulated a lap time, and both factory Ducati riders, Marquez and Morbidelli, had yet to post a lap time of their own.
Marquez crashed a second time in the session, around Turn 10, putting him out of the session altogether. When he attempted to get back onto his Gresini bike again, he fell off before later giving up and walking out of the circuit via the gravel trap.
Marco Bezzecchi had a minor crash himself at Turn 16, which impeded riders once more and affected the championship protagonists. However, both opted not to set another run, though the option was there.
Bezzecchi salvaged a second place despite that late crash as the VR46 Ducati rider displayed his best form at the best time.
With Martin, Bezzecchi and Acosta in the top three spots for both races, factory Ducati’s Bagnaia will start on the start of the second row in fourth on the dirty part of the track.
The Italian’s fourth will provide comfort after his first two runs were cancelled, with team-mate Enea Bastianini and former title rival Fabio Quartararo joining him on the second row.
Johann Zarco complied an impressive seventh place for LCR Honda after topping the first qualifying session, with Fabio Di Giannantonio starting eighth.
Despite topping first and third practice, Franco Morbidelli was no match to his team-mate Martin in qualifying, with the Italian more than a second adrift in ninth place.
Maverick Vinales and Raul Fernandez will occupy tenth and 11th on the grid, with the latter accompanying Zarco in the first qualifying session.
Marquez’s two crashes meant he could not set a time, meaning he starts back in 12th spot for both races.
Aleix Espargaro and Alex Marquez crashed in the dying embers of the first qualifying session while lapping quicker but will have to settle for 13th and 14th on the grid for both races.
Espargaro, who has had a torrid weekend thus far, crashed for the third time but nearly pulled it out of the bag to get into Q2.
Alex Rins will start in 15th for Yamaha, with both Yamaha riders showing the bike’s overall competitiveness around Indonesia.
Jack Miller will occupy 16th on the grid aboard the factory KTM, who edges out Luca Marini by 0.010s and finished 0.045s ahead of LCR Honda rider Taakaki Nakagami.
Brad Binder had bike problems on one of his runs, which prevented him from improving. This resulted in his qualifying 19th for both races. The exact problem has yet to be revealed.
Joan Mir finished as the final Honda rider with 20th place secured for Repsol Honda, with Augusto Fernandez starting in last place.
