Aprilia sets the pace in Friday practice at the Indonesian Grand Prix in Mandalika, with Trackhouse rider Raul Fernandez leading an Aprilia 1-2-3. Multiple outlets report Fernandez breaks the lap record and stays consistently fast through the session, while only the closest challengers—such as factory riders Marco Bezzecchi and Jorge Martin—manage to get within roughly half a second of his pace.
The day is also described as relatively crash-heavy. Several accounts note that Marc Marquez faces a difficult benchmark versus Aprilia and says Ducati cannot “hide” from a real performance gap of around half a second. Yahoo Sports and Motorsport.com frame Mandalika as a damage-limitation situation for Marquez, as Ducati struggles to match Aprilia’s speed. Meanwhile, other title contenders are said to reach Q2, but attention remains on whether Fernandez’s Friday form and Aprilia’s overall advantage carry into later sessions.
