Muddy conditions make for bizarre day of MotoGP testing at Mandalika

Repsol Honda’s Pol Espargaro has set the fastest lap on MotoGP’s first day of testing at Indonesia’s Mandalika circuit, after a long stoppage due to track conditions.

Overnight rain and construction work in the tourism estate in which the Mandalika International Street Circuit is located left the track covered in mud at the start of the morning.

With just over an hour elapsed, proceedings were suspended so that the track could be cleaned, resulting in a delay of around 90 minutes.

Riders were even told to go out and cut laps for the express purpose of cleaning the circuit, before the test properly got going again.

Even then, the field ran on wet tyres until the surface was good enough to switch to slicks.

With the earlier delay, the session finish was extended by 45 minutes, and it was only in that additional time that the aforementioned Espargaro managed a lap quicker than the World Superbike record from last November when he set a 1:32.466s.

More rain subsequently meant he would be the only rider to do so, with brother Aleix Espargaro finishing the day second on his Aprila with a 1:32.937s.

All six manufacturers were represented in the top six, with Red Bull KTM’s Brad Binder third from Suzuki Ecstar’s Alex Rins, Monster Energy Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, and the Ducati Lenovo Team’s Jack Miller.

Rounding out the top 10 were Aprilia Racing’s Maverick Viñales, from Suzuki Ecstar’s Joan Mir, WithU RNF Yamaha’s Andrea Dovizioso, and Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin.

Tech3 KTM’s Remy Gardner was slowest of the 24 riders at 2.137s off the pace.

Testing continues tomorrow (Saturday).

Day 1: Mandalika Official test

Pos	Num	Rider	Nat	Team	Bike	Time	Gap 1st/Prev	Laps
1	44	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1:32.466		68/69
2	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	1:32.937	0.471/0.471	59/60
3	33	Brad BINDER	RSA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1:32.943	0.477/0.006	61/64
4	42	Alex RINS	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1:33.058	0.592/0.115	69/72
5	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1:33.108	0.642/0.050	85/86
6	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	1:33.114	0.648/0.006	70/72
7	12	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia	1:33.147	0.681/0.033	37/56
8	36	Joan MIR	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1:33.244	0.778/0.097	57/58
9	04	Andrea DOVIZIOSO	ITA	WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team	Yamaha	1:33.245	0.779/0.001	48/57
10	89	Jorge MARTIN	SPA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	1:33.358	0.892/0.113	38/51
11	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	1:33.394	0.928/0.036	51/54
12	21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1:33.518	1.052/0.124	67/75
13	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	1:33.592	1.126/0.074	83/96
14	49	Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO	ITA	Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	1:33.683	1.217/0.091	53/54
15	73	Alex MARQUEZ	SPA	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	1:33.700	1.234/0.017	59/62
16	88	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1:33.748	1.282/0.048	66/77
17	93	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1:33.776	1.310/0.028	63/64
18	23	Enea BASTIANINI	ITA	Gresini Racing MotoGP	Ducati	1:33.954	1.488/0.178	44/45
19	25	Raul FERNANDEZ	SPA	Tech3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1:33.966	1.500/0.012	53/57
20	10	Luca MARINI	ITA	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati	1:34.165	1.699/0.199	33/53
21	72	Marco BEZZECCHI	ITA	Mooney VR46 Racing Team	Ducati	1:34.173	1.707/0.008	61/63
22	63	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	1:34.318	1.852/0.145	57/75
23	40	Darryn BINDER	RSA	WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team	Yamaha	1:34.495	2.029/0.177	56/58
24	87	Remy GARDNER	AUS	Tech3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1:34.603	2.137/0.108	48/64