Fernandez Seizes First Career MotoGP Pole at Mandalika as Title Rivals Start on Row Two

Trackhouse Aprilia's Raul Fernandez finally broke his qualifying duck on Saturday, storming to the first MotoGP pole position of his career at the Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia.

The 25-year-old Spaniard, who also set the Friday practice benchmark at Mandalika, stopped the clocks at 1 minute 28.852 seconds in Q2 to head an Aprilia-flavoured front row. Marco Bezzecchi was second, just 0.109s adrift, after a yellow flag triggered by Fermin Aldeguer's late crash robbed him of a final shot at pole. VR46 Ducati rider Fabio Di Giannantonio completed the front row in third, marking his birthday with his best qualifying of the season.

The headline story behind them was the title fight: Jorge Martin and Marc Marquez start only fifth and fourth respectively, on the second row of the grid. Marquez, the defending champion, shadowed Martin out of the pits in the closing minutes but could not extract more pace from his Ducati. Martin leads the championship by just two points over Marquez with six rounds remaining, so the Spaniards will have to slice through Fernandez and the Aprilias in both Saturday's 13-lap sprint and Sunday's grand prix to protect or overturn the standings.

Aldeguer's crash underlined a punishing weekend for the Mandalika specialists, while Pramac Yamaha rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu was a battered 19th after his injury. Fernandez, winner of the British MotoGP in August, now has a golden chance to convert his maiden pole into a second victory — but the two men starting directly behind the front row are the fastest riders in the championship, and neither will wait politely.