Indonesia MotoGP Practice delayed due to stewards’ room issue

Practice for the 2026 MotoGP Indonesian Grand Prix has been hit with a delay due to technical issues affecting the stewards’ room and timekeeping at Mandalika.

The Moto2 FP2 session that began at 7:05am BST was red-flagged with just over 12 minutes to go due to “technical issues”.

MotoGP Race Director Graham Webber subsequently announced that the stewards’ room and timekeeping have been hit with a connectivity issue, leaving them unable to operate.

A brief statement from Webber said: “We’re experiencing connectivity issues affecting the stewards’ room and timekeeping. We’re working on a fix to get back underway shortly.”

As of the time of publishing, the Moto2 FP2 session had 12m27s left on the clock, with the issue finally resolved at 8:12am BST.

MotoGP’s hour-long Practice was due to begin at 8am BST, but has now been delayed due to the connectivity issue is resolved. It will now begin at 8:35am BST. 

It’s not the first time MotoGP has faced problems at the Mandalika circuit in Indonesia.

The inaugural race at the event in 2022 was plagued by an issue with the asphalt, which led to the grand prix being shortened.

Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi led this morning’s FP1 session with a 1m30.132s, as he looks to reignite his fading title challenge.

Marc Marquez was second on the factory Ducati, 0.237s behind Bezzecchi, while championship leader Jorge Martin was third on the sister works team Aprilia.

Just two points separate Martin and Marquez at the top of the standings ahead of this weekend’s race action at Mandalika.

Marquez has never finished a grand prix at Mandalika, with the Spaniard suffering a serious shoulder injury in a collision last year.

Three riders crashed on Friday morning in FP1, with LCR Honda’s Diogo Moreira, Trackhouse Aprilia’s Ai Ogura and Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer all finding the gravel trap.

Aldeguer won the Indonesian Grand Prix last year in dominant fashion.