At the end of the Indonesian MotoGP Grand Prix in Mandalika, the press conference welcomed Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing), Raul Fernandez (SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team) and Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing), the three riders who were on the podium on Sunday.
Jorge Martin secured his ninth Grand Prix podium of the 2026 season and his 41st MotoGP Grand Prix podium, surpassing MotoGP Hall of Fame member Barry Sheene .
He regained the lead in the MotoGP World Championship, one day after losing it in the Sprint, and now has a 2-point lead over Marc Márquez and a 46-point lead over his teammate Marco Bezzecchi.
Jorge Martin 's 2-point lead over Marc Márquez equals the smallest gap ever recorded between the top two in the MotoGP World Championship after 17 Grands Prix: in 2022, Fabio Quartararo also had a 2-point lead over Francesco Bagnaia after the Thai Grand Prix.
As is our custom , we reproduce their words here in full without any formatting, even though they are translated from English.
🎤 Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to this post-race press conference, in very high heat and humidity, at the end of the Pertamina Grand Prix of Indonesia, here at the Pertamina Mandalika International Circuit, after a truly unforgettable Sunday for Aprilia, which monopolized the top four places for the first time in its history.
Today's Grand Prix was won by Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing rider. Marco gave Italy its 300th MotoGP victory and completed Aprilia's clean sweep of the top four positions. What a performance today!
Second place went to SuperFile Trackhouse Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez, who raced with two broken fingers after his crash in yesterday's Sprint.
And back at the top of the MotoGP World Championship, having arrived in Mandalika with a two-point lead over Marc Márquez and leaving Mandalika with a two-point lead over Marc in the fight for the title: Jorge Martín, Aprilia Racing rider.
Gentlemen, congratulations, well done to all three of you! As always here in Indonesia, in such conditions, it was very, very trying: 27 long and difficult laps to complete…
🎤 Now let's move on to third place, with Jorge Martín, Aprilia Racing rider. Congratulations, you're back in the lead of the World Championship!
You arrived here with a two-point lead over Marc, and you're leaving with a two-point lead over Marc. So, what's your assessment of your weekend here in Mandalika? I imagine you're still thinking you should have won yesterday's Sprint, but today you secured a very, very solid third place.
Jorge Martin: “Yes, I’m happy. Today, my goal was to finish third. Honestly, all weekend, Raul and Marco were a step ahead of me.”
I was trying to keep up with them, but there were some corners where they were really very fast.
So yes, I tried to work on my style, on my rhythm, and today I did my best. I'm happy with it.
Yesterday, of course, I missed a great opportunity to win the Sprint, but that's racing: sometimes you win, sometimes you learn. And today was a very good day. We've regained the lead in the championship.
There are still five races left and I feel like I'm getting faster and faster so I can fight for it.
🎤 You're always on the edge, and in MotoGP everything comes down to details, to tiny gaps. This weekend, where did you feel that Marco and Raul had that slight advantage over you?
“Yes, it seemed that in the fast corners, they were able to maintain more speed with less skating, whereas I was skating a lot. And that’s why I was trying to take risks, to gain time.”
Of course, I made a lot of progress over the weekend compared to the first day, but I think I was a few laps short. Maybe last season they had already made a step forward here, while this season I was still trying to catch up with them.
So sometimes I feel a bit of the fact that I didn't race here the previous year and I struggle to keep up with their speed, whereas on other circuits I don't suffer from it.
That's how it was here. I couldn't get that little extra something out of the Aprilia, even though the bike was working really well.
Yes, I'm happy with the result.
🎤 This is the first time since your arrival at Aprilia that you have now achieved three consecutive podium finishes in Sunday Grand Prix races.
To win a World Championship, you obviously need speed, but also consistency. How important is that at this stage of the season?
“Yes, I’m happy to have secured my third consecutive podium with Aprilia, it’s really very positive. I’m confident that I’ll be fast in all the remaining races.”
Of course, there have been races where I thought I was going to suffer, and indeed, I did have difficulties. But now, I no longer have the feeling that I'm going to suffer.
I think I'm going to be really competitive and I'm totally focused on what's coming up.
(I.e. Jorge, in the last two races you were the fastest Aprilia rider. So what happened here? Why weren't you the fastest Aprilia rider? Where were you losing time, and why?
"Yes, as I said before, there were two corners where they were really very fast and I couldn't keep up with their speed.
I was trying to analyze how they did it, but I wasn't able to reach that speed, sorry, and I was losing a tenth in each of those turns.
Then I tried to recover on the rest of the circuit, where I felt good, but in those two corners, yes, I was lacking time.
I was trying to match their speed and then, when I looked at the data, they had taken another step forward, and it was like that all weekend.
So, you know, I'm glad it's really limited to two places and not on the whole circuit.
I feel it's a rather unique circuit, and perhaps that's why I was lacking a bit of speed.
🎤 Regarding tire pressure: yesterday, Jorge had some issues, and today Pedro Acosta also encountered them during the race. Did any of you experience front tire pressure problems during the race, whether it was too high or too low? And given that this is obviously a unique circuit, with a lot of heat in particular, do you think we might encounter further tire pressure issues in the last four or five races?
"For me, yesterday was a big problem, because, you know, we are really, really close to the limit, but if you are below it you have to wait for others to try to raise your pressure.
Today I think we were too cautious and, you know, my tire had a lot of pressure, so I suffered a lot in the corners.
And yes, it's true that in Malaysia, normally, when it's hot, that's when we suffer the most. Perhaps the team will try to be more precise then, but that's also when it's riskiest, because when it's cold, normally, with more pressure, we're even better.
So I think Malaysia will be the most difficult, then the rest should be easy.
(I.e. Jorge, you have experience wrestling for a World Championship, but every time you've fought for the title, it's been against Pecco. How is fighting against Marc different?
"For me, it doesn't change much. Well, of course, it's Marc: I have the experience of two titles, but he has the experience of nine, so it's not really an advantage for me.
What I see, however, is that Marc obviously makes fewer mistakes. As soon as you make a small error, he's there to beat you, he's always there.
So yes, it's different, of course. But I'm trying to do my best.
I can't do more than I'm capable of, and honestly, winning or not will simply be a consequence of doing things well.
Results of the Indonesian MotoGP Grand Prix in Mandalika :
Ranking credit: MotoGP.com
MotoGP Indonesia Jorge Martin MotoGP Indonesia Jorge Martin MotoGP Indonesia Jorge Martin
