diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index e47de26eab..9fe4b5d011 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,13 @@ A more detailed list of changes is available in the corresponding milestones for
     - v0.12.0a3 (2024-Mar-13)
     - v0.12.0a4 (2024-Mar-15)
     - v0.12.0a5 (2024-Apr-02)
+    - v0.12.0a6 (2024-Apr-04)
+
+
+## 0.12.0a6 (2024-Apr-04)
+### Changes to existing checks
+#### On the Google Fonts profile
+  - **EXPERIMENTAL [com.google.fonts/check/varfont/instances_in_order]:** Fix an ERROR caused by a list IndexError (issue #4626)
 
 
 ## 0.12.0a5 (2024-Apr-02)
diff --git a/Lib/fontbakery/checks/googlefonts/varfont.py b/Lib/fontbakery/checks/googlefonts/varfont.py
index 1e15ac3acb..84efb83c6a 100644
--- a/Lib/fontbakery/checks/googlefonts/varfont.py
+++ b/Lib/fontbakery/checks/googlefonts/varfont.py
@@ -653,7 +653,7 @@ def com_google_fonts_check_varfont_instances_in_order(ttFont, config):
     # Partition into sub-lists based on the other axes values.
     # e.g. "Thin Regular", "Bold Regular", "Thin Condensed", "Bold Condensed"
     # becomes [ ["Thin Regular", "Bold Regular"], ["Thin Condensed", "Bold Condensed"] ]
-    sublists = []
+    sublists = [[]]
     last_non_wght = {}
     for coord in coords:
         non_wght = {k: v for k, v in coord.items() if k != "wght"}