Quartararo wanted Mandalika gravel level with tarmac after Friday crash
NXTbets Pro | Published On: October 9, 2026
Quartararo crash at Turn 8
Fabio Quartararo crashed at Turn 8 in practice at the Indonesian Grand Prix and said he was lucky to avoid a serious injury. The fall left him sore on his left side, but he said he had no broken bones. The impact that bothered him most came after he landed in the gravel, not just from the initial loss of control. Quartararo said the gravel sat too high relative to the runoff at Turn 8, and that the step from tarmac to gravel made the hit worse. He framed the crash as more than a simple mistake on the bike. The landing zone, he said, turned the spill into a harder, more punishing accident. He kept his day alive after the fall, which made the crash itself only part of the story. The rest centered on how much force the gravel trap added once he left the track.
Mandalika gravel trap concern
Quartararo called for changes to Mandalika’s gravel traps and said the gravel area should be made level with the tarmac. He said the current gravel lip can launch riders into the air, which turns a run-off mistake into something far more violent. His criticism focused on the transition from pavement to gravel, the same area that made his own crash feel worse when he hit the ground. Quartararo tied that concern to Marc Marquez’s crash at Mandalika last year. Marquez went down at Turn 7, got injured and missed the final four rounds of that season. Marquez also said the gravel traps should be reassessed. He said the setup increases the risk of damage to both riders and bikes in that fast section of the circuit. That shared view pushed the issue beyond one rider’s bad luck. Both crashes point to the same problem, a rough edge where the circuit ends and the gravel begins. Quartararo’s solution was straightforward. He wants the gravel brought down to the same level as the tarmac so riders do not get kicked upward when they hit the edge. The concern was not cosmetic. It was about how a fall unfolds once a rider leaves the racing line.
Marquez comparison and Q2
Quartararo still salvaged his session after the crash. He returned to practice, set the seventh-fastest time and earned a place in Q2. That gave him a way back into the weekend after a crash that could have ended the day on a much worse note. The result also showed he could reset quickly after the hit to his left side and the heavy landing in the gravel. Quartararo left the session with a clear view of what bothered him most. The crash itself mattered, but so did the response. Instead, he pushed back into the order and put himself in position to keep moving forward in qualifying. The seventh-fastest time was a practical answer to the earlier scare. It showed pace was still there. It also kept the focus on the bigger point he made after the crash, that Mandalika’s gravel setup needed work. For Quartararo, the day became a mix of recovery and speed, with his place in Q2 underscoring that the crash did not end his session.
