{"id":917293,"date":"2026-10-05T19:06:11","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T19:06:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/917293\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T19:06:11","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T19:06:11","slug":"motegi-motogp-marquez-has-the-momentum-but-mandalika-curse-looms-large","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/917293\/","title":{"rendered":"Motegi MotoGP: M\u00e1rquez has the momentum, but Mandalika curse looms large"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two points separate Jorge Martin<\/a> and Marc M\u00e1rquez<\/a> in the 2026 MotoGP<\/a> title hunt, with 222 points still up for grabs. Anything could happen.<\/p>\n

And it usually does to M\u00e1rquez at Mandalika<\/a>, the venue for this weekend\u2019s Indonesian Grand Prix, where the reigning champion hasn\u2019t finished a single Sunday race since the island circuit hosted its first GP in 2022.<\/p>\n

That first year was the worst.<\/p>\n

M\u00e1rquez suffered a horrific highside during morning warm-up, which put him out of the race. On the long flight home, he started seeing double again, an ailment that has affected him on and off since a big shunt back in 2011.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I got home with my father, we went to see the doctor. When we left the doctor, I said to my father, \u2018Okay, now I give up\u2019,\u201d M\u00e1rquez recalls.<\/p>\n

M\u00e1rquez has considered quitting racing often enough since his 2020 Jerez<\/a> accident but this is the only time he\u2019s actually made the decision to quit. Of course, he changed his mind two weeks later, once the diplopia had subsided, and flew to Austin for the US GP, where he suffered blinding headaches throughout, icing his head whenever he wasn\u2019t on the bike. Of course he told no one except his inner circle.<\/p>\n

At the 2023 Indonesian GP, M\u00e1rquez crashed out of eighth place after a few laps; the following year his engine blew and last year he got taken out on the first lap by Marco Bezzecchi<\/a>.<\/p>\n

M\u00e1rquez always focuses on the positives, so no doubt already he\u2019s convinced himself that he\u2019s due a change of luck this weekend.<\/p>\n

And yet it won\u2019t be that simple.<\/p>\n

Michelin\u2019s Mandalika<\/a> tyre allocation only includes the heat-resistant rear slick, which usually works better with Martin\u2019s Aprilia<\/a> than with M\u00e1rquez\u2019s Ducati.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The sticker on M\u00e1rquez\u2019s screen marks chief engineer Gigi Dall\u2019Igna\u2019s 100th victory with Ducati, an astonishing achievement in 10 years<\/p>\n

\n Ducati Corse\n <\/p>\n

Sure, M\u00e1rquez won Motegi<\/a> with a heat-resistant slick, but that\u2019s because the new asphalt was so grippy that it masked the tyre\u2019s deficiencies.<\/p>\n

By the way, the Motegi tyre drama \u2013 triggered by several soft rear slicks delaminating during the sprint \u2013 need never have happened.<\/p>\n

The only reason there was a panic about Sunday tyre choice \u2013 the medium or the hard \u2013 was because no one had bothered trying the hard during practice. If they had, there wouldn\u2019t have been any worries. So the drama was the fault of the riders and teams, not Michelin\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Most engineers don\u2019t think M\u00e1rquez will be able to repeat his Motegi success at Mandalika, which is much more slippery than Motegi and a lot hotter, track temperatures nudging 60 degrees, twice as hot as Motegi.<\/p>\n

But, hang on\u2026 Ducati has won the last three races at Mandalika. Yes, but only because in 2023 and 2024 it had enough of an advantage over its rivals to cancel out the tyre handicap and because last year\u2019s race-favourite Bezzecchi didn\u2019t last the first lap, allowing Gresini<\/a> Ducati\u2019s Fermin Aldeguer<\/a> to win. Bezzecchi had put his Aprilia on pole by four-tenths and had been more than a second faster than anyone on Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

Therefore M\u00e1rquez will spend much of this week hunched over a computer screen with crew chief Marco Rigamonti, examining Aldeguer\u2019s data from last October. Aldeguer suffers less with the heat-resistant tyre than other Ducati riders, because he uses more corner speed than they do.<\/p>\n

The heat-resistant casing makes most of the tyre stiffer than the regular casing, so the rubber doesn\u2019t squish so much and therefore doesn\u2019t grip the track as well. However, the edge of the tyre isn\u2019t really affected by the stiff casing, which is why it works better for Aldeguer, as well as for the Aprilia, which is a corner-speed bike, while the Ducati is a stop-and-go bike, relying on the tyre\u2019s shoulder during braking and acceleration to make the lap time.<\/p>\n

\"Martin<\/p>\n

Martin \u2013 full gas over the kerbs \u2013 is building consistency to go with his speed<\/p>\n

\n MotoGP\n <\/p>\n

What M\u00e1rquez wants to learn from Aldeguer\u2019s data is how to ride more like his young countryman, at least this weekend. So most of all he will be looking at braking data, trying to match brake pressure and lean angle in a way that allows him to carry more speed into and through the corners.<\/p>\n

Like all the true greats, M\u00e1rquez can adapt his riding to all kinds of different situations. If he can make that magic at Mandalika, he may even challenge for victory. Otherwise, he will try to minimise the damage.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s worth pointing out that the 33-year-old\u2019s 79th MotoGP victory takes him to within 10 races of equalling Valentino Rossi<\/a>\u2019s record 89 wins. And if he takes this year\u2019s title he will equal Giacomo Agostini<\/a>\u2019s record of eight premier-class titles.<\/p>\n

Whether M\u00e1rquez attains that second achievement could depend on what happens this weekend.<\/p>\n

In theory, Aprilia will dominate Mandalika. The RS-GP loves the seaside venue\u2019s flowing layout and it\u2019s not impossible that Aprilia could lock out the podium in both races, which might cost M\u00e1rquez twenty points or more. And with Martin finally combining speed and consistency \u2013 he\u2019s scored double podiums at the last two GPs \u2013 that loss won\u2019t be easy to make up at the last five rounds.<\/p>\n

Martin may not have had the speed to beat M\u00e1rquez in Japan, but he was super-fast and very nearly as precise as the race winner. The 28-year-old is finally fully at one with the RS-GP, comfortably out-performing team-mate Bezzecchi at recent races. I\u2019ve always thought the Aprilia suits him better than the Ducati, no matter how long it\u2019s taken him to get there.<\/p>\n

Martin also has the better bike and is physically stronger. His arm-pump issues haven\u2019t bothered him since Misano<\/a> \u2013 thanks to a couple of hours of treatment each day \u2013 so he may make it to the end of the season without them reoccurring. And remember he was running away with the Misano race when arm pump intervened.<\/p>\n

\"Martin,<\/p>\n

Martin, M\u00e1rquez and Bezzecchi \u2013 MotoGP is currently M\u00e1rquez versus Aprilia<\/p>\n

M\u00e1rquez meanwhile has only 50% strength in his much-mangled right arm, which he\u2019s managing as best he can, also undergoing daily treatment. The arm hasn\u2019t been a serious issue since Assen<\/a> and Silverstone<\/a>, where numerous high-speed direction changes asked too much of it. And none of the last five circuits is like those two.<\/p>\n

M\u00e1rquez currently arranges his life around his right arm, whether he\u2019s at home, travelling or at races. It\u2019s the main focus of his training regime and he does everything he can to protect and look after it. For example, he tries to miss any big media\/marketing duties, like the British GP media event in London. That would\u2019ve taken up half his Thursday, which he needs for physio and so on.<\/p>\n

And he didn\u2019t take part in Sunday morning\u2019s Motegi go-kart \u2018race\u2019. After warm-up, he underwent yet more physio, as usual, and he certainly didn\u2019t want to risk aggravating his arm by driving around in a kart.<\/p>\n

The idea of getting MotoGP riders to race around in go-karts a few hours before the main event is ridiculous. It also showed utter contempt for the world\u2019s fastest bike racers who risk their lives every time they ride out of pitlane. And it suggests that the people running MotoGP have much less of a clue about what these guys do for a living than we might\u2019ve thought. Frankly, it\u2019s rather worrying.<\/p>\n

Last year I asked M\u00e1rquez about the increasing number of silly PR nonsense that Liberty ask of the riders.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlways they ask more and more and more [of us] and some day it will explode,\u201d he answered.<\/p>\n

M\u00e1rquez was 100% right to boycott the kart event by sending a double in his place. The double wore a Ducati paddock jacket and a replica helmet with dark visor, which remained firmly shut, despite efforts by Martin and an IRTA official to ascertain the double\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n

Of course, M\u00e1rquez got told off by MotoGP bosses for what he did. Is this really what MotoGP has come to?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two points separate Jorge Martin and Marc M\u00e1rquez in the 2026 MotoGP title hunt, with 222 points still…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":917294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[485206,64,63,5745,806,805,803,804,85],"class_list":["post-917293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-2026-motogp-japanese-gp","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motogp","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=917293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/917294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=917293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=917293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=917293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}