How Fermin Aldeguer avoided crucial Jorge Martin error in Mandalika MotoGP

Indonesian Grand Prix winner Fermin Aldeguer admits he was thinking about Jorge Martin’s 2023 Mandalika crash while in a dominant lead of last weekend’s MotoGP race.

The Gresini rider converted second on the grid to a maiden MotoGP victory in a chaotic 27-lap grand prix on Sunday in Indonesia.

Taking the lead on the seventh lap, Fermin Aldeguer proceeded to bolt into the distance, building his advantage up to over nine seconds at one stage before taking the chequered flag 6.897s clear of the field.

His win salvaged an otherwise dismal weekend for Ducati, while making him the first rookie since Jorge Martin in 2021 to score a victory in their debut season.

With an average pace of almost 0.4s per lap over the rest, Aldeguer felt his relentless push was what he needed to do to avoid making the same mistake Martin did at Mandalika in 2023, when he fell while in a commanding lead.

“When I was on the bike, I was remembering this crash Jorge Martin because I remembered his race at that moment,” he explained.

“But sometimes it is better to continue in your pace because if you maybe reduce the speed, you do more mistakes, and I tried all the time to be focused.

“This pace of 1m30.8s, 1m30.7s was comfortable for me without going on the limit and with something more.

“It’s better to continue with the same pace and also because I don’t do a lot of laps with the medium.

“I didn’t know what would happen with more laps in a row.”

Aldeguer’s victory means Gresini Racing has won with every rider its has fielded since returning to independent team status in 2022.

The 20-year-old came close to a maiden sprint win on the Saturday in Indonesia, but was denied on the last lap by Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi.

He was expecting the Italian to be his main threat when he got to the lead, though that challenge would never materialise after Bezzecchi collided with Marc Marquez on the opening lap.

“The sprint was long and it was 13 laps - I led 12!,” he said.

“Today, the first lap, I felt very good but it was difficult to overtake [Luca] Marini and Pedro [Acosta].

“I overtook Marini in the same place that I tried in the sprint in the last lap with Bez, and I overtook Pedro in the same corner that I lost the sprint.

“I improved! After, when I saw on the pitboard 20 laps [left], to lead, a lot of things were in my head.

“But I tried to be super focused, to do my pace, and lap-by-lap I opened more gap.

“We talked with the team yesterday to not put who was behind me, because when I saw Bez was behind me [in the sprint] I did more mistakes.

“Today I was waiting for Bez because during the whole weekend he was faster than me.

“But he didn’t arrive. I was opening lap-by-lap more gap and this motivated me to keep pushing.”