Deniz Oncu got his Indonesian Moto3 race weekend off to a flying start with the quickest time come the end of Friday free practice as a number of his rivals hit problems around a slippery Mandalika Circuit.

Back in action after seeing his Moto3 title aspirations take a significant blow with a crash last time out at Motegi, Oncu was straight back on form aboard the Red Bull KTM Ajo machine to hit his peak with a 1m 39.855secs lap.

One of only two riders to dip below 1m 40secs, Oncu led the way from P1 pace setter Diogo Moreira, the Brazilian looking strong on the MT Helmets-MSi bike despite counting himself as one of multiple riders to take a tumble over the course of the day.

A total of 13 crashes would occur across the two sessions as riders struggled to get to grips with the Lombok venue’s ‘green’ surface, six of which would occur within the first ten minutes of the opening session.

They included some high profile names too, not least new championship leader Jaume Masia, who fell twice in P1 before regrouping to end the day with the third fastest time.

Fellow Honda rider Matteo Bertelle chased him in fourth, ahead of Ayumu Sasaki, who was fifth fastest despite joining Husqvarna IntactGP team-mate Collin Veijer in coming down at Turn 1 in the final minutes of the P2 session.

Erstwhile points leader Daniel Holgado brought his day to a close in sixth place, ahead of countryman David Munoz on the Boe Motorsports machine, with Riccardo Rossi, Stefano Nepa and Kaito Toba popping up into the top ten too.

Elsewhere, Ivan Ortola - who retains an outside chance in the title reckoning - sneaked the final provisional Q2 spot in 14th, ahead of rookies Veijer in 15th and David Alonso, who also crashed late on, in 16th.

Just behind, the VisionTrack Racing Brits ended the day in tandem with Josh Whatley in 19th and Scott Ogden in 20th, though the latter showed front-running pace through the splits over the course of the day before bungling his last time attack.