'Losing 10 or 12 points would not be bad' for Ducati at Indonesian GP

Ducati MotoGP team manager Davide Tardozzi says losing up to 12 points would be an acceptable outcome at the Indonesian Grand Prix this weekend.

He was referring primarily to lead factory rider Marc Marquez, who is in the thick of the world championship fight but does not have a good record at Mandalika.

The current GP26 may not take to the Mandalika circuit either, a point on which Tardozzi was open in interviews throughout last weekend's Japanese Grand Prix. On more than one occasion, he conceded that other bikes would be faster – primarily a reference to championship rival Aprilia.

Speaking to TNT Sports after the Japanese Grand Prix, which Marquez won to take maximum points for the weekend, Tardozzi said: "Mandalika doesn't suit our bike properly."

Then, when asked directly what a good result would be in Indonesia, the former racer offered concrete numbers: "I think that losing 10, 12 points could be considered not bad."

Not wanting to be misinterpreted as defeatist, the Italian went out of his way to expand on the statement at the end of the interview.

"I would like to finish with one thing. Yeah, we can consider that 10, 12 points could be a normal loss in Mandalika - but we go there to win."

Jorge Martin, Aprilia Racing Team, Marc Marquez, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images

While Ducati will push for victory as best it can in Indonesia, its best rider Marquez has never finished at MotoGP race at the seaside circuit. Mandalika was also the scene of the serious accident with Marco Bezzecchi that curtailed Marc's 2025 season.

The factory Ducati team struggled for speed throughout last year's edition as well, despite Francesco Bagnaia coming directly from a dominant weekend in Japan. Even Marquez qualified an unusually low ninth on the grid.

What may offer some hope is the fact that another Ducati, the older Gresini bike of Fermin Aldegeuer, did win the Indonesian Grand Prix last year - although Aprilia's Bezzecchi was the clear favourite until the crash. In fact, Ducati bikes have won three in a row at Mandalika, with Bagnaia prevailing in 2023 and Jorge Martin for Pramac in 2024.

That will offer little comfort to Marquez in terms of his personal relationship with the track, however. And it is the very same Martin, now riding a factory Aprilia, whom he is trying to overhaul in the championship. Martin holds a lead of a mere two points heading into the weekend.

If anybody will find a way to get the best possible result in Indonesia, even if it proves a tough weekend, it will be Marc Marquez, suggested Tardozzi.

"In the end, again, he's a leader," said the Ducati boss. "He's a leader inside the garage. He knows how to push the people, and he knows how to be helped by the people.

"[It's] how he relates to the people of the team, how he explains the problems and how he underlines the good points of the bike that could help him more than managing the problems. Because sometimes it's better that you focus on the good things more than thinking about the problems."

MotoGPThe numbers that show how Gigi Dall’Igna turned Ducati into a MotoGP powerhouse

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

- The Motorsport.com Team