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2026 Spanish MotoGP Friday Practice Reaction LIVE: Marquez comfortably fastest
Live coverage of the Friday practice sessions from the 2026 Spanish MotoGP at Jerez, the first European round of the season.
Live updates from the Practice session at the 2026 Spanish MotoGP. Practice is scheduled for 15:00 local time.
Key Moments
- Marquez ends 0.3s clear of the field in Practice
- Bagnaia down early in Practice
- PR starts
- Martin crashes post-session
- Di Giannantonio fastest in FP1
Marco Bezzecchi enters the Spanish Grand Prix as the championship leader. The Italian is expecting a “tough” race this weekend for a variety of reasons, including tyre wear, as he explained yesterday. In FP1 this morning he was fourth-fastest and one of several riders to not use a fresh tyre at the end.
Bezzecchi’s Aprilia Racing teammate, Jorge Martin, is the Italian’s closest rival in the standings at present. He also didn’t use a fresh tyre but did improve late on in FP1 to finish 10th-fastest this morning.
Pedro Acosta remains third in the championship after returning to the podium in Texas. The Spaniard feels this year’s KTM is a bike that is more suited to him than last year which is helping him stay more consistent at the beginnin of the season, although he is still chasing that first premier class win. He was only the second-fastest KTM for much of this morning’s session, but he ended up eighth and the only KTM in the top-10.
Fabio Di Giannantonio is the leading Ducati rider in the championship despite being taken out by Marc Marquez in the Sprint at COTA. The VR46 rider’s future is uncertain at present but he insisted yesterday that his focus remains on racing at the moment, and he finished this morning’s practice fastest overall having used a fresh tyre for his final run.
Franco Morbidelli also used a fresh tyre this morning to go second at the end.
Marc Marquez hasn’t yet stood on a grand prix podium this year and his only win of any kind has come in the Brazil Sprint, in which he narrowly beat Di Giannantonio. Marquez’s form this year has been hampered so far by his physical condition, and he was walking around yesterday with a new scar on his arm from his high-speed Texas practice crash almost a month ago.
The reigning champion was fifth this morning and, like Bezzecchi ahead of him, didn’t use a fresh tyre. Fastest of everyone who stayed with the same tyres for the whole session this morning was Alex Marquez in third overall.
There are also two wildcard riders on the grid this weekend as Lorenzo Savadori and Augusto Fernandez line up for Aprilia and Yamaha, respectively, ahead of the first in-season official test of 2026 on Monday.
Factory Yamaha boss Massimo Meregalli explained earlier that Fernandez will be able to help the team work through its testing programme for this weekend, where it has some new items to try, since he is there as a wildcard.
Marc Marquez warns Jerez MotoGP podium “optimistic”, “I don’t have the potential to attack”
Fabio Quartararo says that Yamaha’s problems in Jerez are about much more than top speed.
The Frenchman was the fastest of the Yamaha riders during Friday’s practices, but over a second behind Alex Marquez.
Full story here.
Pedro Acosta admits he endured a “tough day” at Jerez during practice today.
The Spanish rider mostly struggled with braking stability, something he feels is a recurring theme for him at Jerez.
Full story here.
Aprilia looks to be facing its first real test of a 2026 MotoGP campaign it has so far dominated, as Ducati led the way on Friday at the Spanish Grand Prix. Alex Marquez believed a repeat of his 2025 Jerez heroics was unlikely coming into the round. But practice pace suggests he may need to revise this outlook…
Why one Ducati star’s ‘unrealistic’ Jerez MotoGP dream looks anything but
Jorge Martin hit with penalty after Jerez MotoGP practice incident
practice report – alex marquez blitzes the field in spanish motogp practice
2026 Spanish MotoGP, Jerez – Friday Practice Results
Alex Marquez ends Practice fastest as Friday comes to an end in Jerez.
Di Giannantonio takes second, the Bezzecchi third.
Marc Marquez fourth-fastest, ahead of Ogura in the top-five.
Bagnaia dropped to sixth in the end but a decent recovery after his early crash.
Raul Fernandez, Aldeguer, Martin, and Bastianini complete the top-10.
Disaster for the factory KTM team: Acosta over the line 15th, Binder 16th. Bastianini gets his RC16 in the top-10, just about, in P10.
Marc Marquez up to fourth with his latest lap. Di Giannantonio the only one within 0.5s of Alex Marquez at the moment with just seconds remaining.
Good lap for Bagnaia, finally gets the fourth split together and goes second… Briefly, because he’s soon pushed to third by Bezzecchi.
Behind, Martin goes sixth and Quartararo only 15th on the Yamaha.
Into the 1m35s now thanks to Alex Marquez who is now 0.5s clear of the field.
PB from Acosta that time but only up to P15. 8 minutes to go and he needs a big lap.
Alex Marquez has gone fastest by 0.066s. Acosta was on course to beat that time but he lost 2s in sector three.
Marc Marquez, meanwhile seventh after losing 0.3s in the final split. Bagnaia loses 0.4s and goes 11th.
More time attacks coming in now, Ogura up to fifth, Bezzecchi second, but Di Giannantonio still leading by over 0.25s.
Di Giannantonio extends his gap at the top with his first time attack lap. 1m36.267s from him and he’s now 0.339s clear at the top.
Martin has crashed at the final corner. He’s just run across the final corner to get back to the pits. Wonder if he’ll get in trouble for that later but there was no one coming so wasn’t too sketchy.
A bit like the Alonso crash in Moto2 FP1 this morning he’s just locked the front in a straight line.
Halfway through the session, so here’s your top-10 before we start seeing some time attacks:
- Di Giannantonio
- A. Marquez
- M. Marquez
- Zarco
- Acosta
- Marini
- Bezzecchi
- Bagnaia
- R. Fernandez
- Ogura
Bagnaia down to a 1m37.140s now to go eighth in the session, just under 0.6s behind Di Giannantonio.
Acosta having his own moment into turn six. More of a straight-up stoppie for the KTM rider, so just had to release the brake and go long.
Acosta now the fastest rider with the soft rear tyre, he’s just moved up to fourth on a 1m37.000s.
Another moment for Bagnaia just now, braking into turn six. Kind of stoppied slightly as the rear tyre came back into line but he stayed aboard the Desmosedici this time.
MotoGP.com’s Jack Appleyard telling the world feed broadcast just now that he was told by Davide Tardozzi that it’s possible Bagnaia’s crash was caused by him getting caught out by Alex Marquez ahead of him braking earlier than he anticipated into turn one. Bagnaia braked harder in response and the result was locking the front.
Just the theory of the Ducati Lenovo Team manager.
Bagnaia has been back to the box now and changed his leathers so should be back out shortly, although he’s probably only going to have one bike for the remainder of this session.
Leading soft tyre runner at the moment, by the way, is Bezzecchi in fifth.
Just in front of him is Marini on the Honda who’s had a bright start to the session.
Di Giannantonio is down to a 1m36.560s now. He, Alex Marquez, and Zarco are the only riders in the 1m36s at the moment, all with medium rear tyre.
Most riders out on medium-medium tyres this morning but a few with soft rears: Bezzecchi, Ogura, Miller, Martin, Fernandez.
Martin started on the medium but didn’t set a time, has gone back out on the soft now and moved up to 12th with his first lap of the session.
Here’s footage of Bagnaia’s crash. You can see he loses the front as the rear wheel comes back into line.
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Live updates from the Practice session at the 2026 Spanish MotoGP. Practice is scheduled for 15:00 local time.
Key Moments
- Marquez ends 0.3s clear of the field in Practice
- Bagnaia down early in Practice
- PR starts
- Martin crashes post-session
- Di Giannantonio fastest in FP1
Marco Bezzecchi enters the Spanish Grand Prix as the championship leader. The Italian is expecting a “tough” race this weekend for a variety of reasons, including tyre wear, as he explained yesterday. In FP1 this morning he was fourth-fastest and one of several riders to not use a fresh tyre at the end.
Bezzecchi’s Aprilia Racing teammate, Jorge Martin, is the Italian’s closest rival in the standings at present. He also didn’t use a fresh tyre but did improve late on in FP1 to finish 10th-fastest this morning.
Pedro Acosta remains third in the championship after returning to the podium in Texas. The Spaniard feels this year’s KTM is a bike that is more suited to him than last year which is helping him stay more consistent at the beginnin of the season, although he is still chasing that first premier class win. He was only the second-fastest KTM for much of this morning’s session, but he ended up eighth and the only KTM in the top-10.
Fabio Di Giannantonio is the leading Ducati rider in the championship despite being taken out by Marc Marquez in the Sprint at COTA. The VR46 rider’s future is uncertain at present but he insisted yesterday that his focus remains on racing at the moment, and he finished this morning’s practice fastest overall having used a fresh tyre for his final run.
Franco Morbidelli also used a fresh tyre this morning to go second at the end.
Marc Marquez hasn’t yet stood on a grand prix podium this year and his only win of any kind has come in the Brazil Sprint, in which he narrowly beat Di Giannantonio. Marquez’s form this year has been hampered so far by his physical condition, and he was walking around yesterday with a new scar on his arm from his high-speed Texas practice crash almost a month ago.
The reigning champion was fifth this morning and, like Bezzecchi ahead of him, didn’t use a fresh tyre. Fastest of everyone who stayed with the same tyres for the whole session this morning was Alex Marquez in third overall.
There are also two wildcard riders on the grid this weekend as Lorenzo Savadori and Augusto Fernandez line up for Aprilia and Yamaha, respectively, ahead of the first in-season official test of 2026 on Monday.
Factory Yamaha boss Massimo Meregalli explained earlier that Fernandez will be able to help the team work through its testing programme for this weekend, where it has some new items to try, since he is there as a wildcard.
Live updates from the Practice session at the 2026 Spanish MotoGP. Practice is scheduled for 15:00 local time.
Key Moments
- Marquez ends 0.3s clear of the field in Practice
- Bagnaia down early in Practice
- PR starts
- Martin crashes post-session
- Di Giannantonio fastest in FP1
Marco Bezzecchi enters the Spanish Grand Prix as the championship leader. The Italian is expecting a “tough” race this weekend for a variety of reasons, including tyre wear, as he explained yesterday. In FP1 this morning he was fourth-fastest and one of several riders to not use a fresh tyre at the end.
Bezzecchi’s Aprilia Racing teammate, Jorge Martin, is the Italian’s closest rival in the standings at present. He also didn’t use a fresh tyre but did improve late on in FP1 to finish 10th-fastest this morning.
Pedro Acosta remains third in the championship after returning to the podium in Texas. The Spaniard feels this year’s KTM is a bike that is more suited to him than last year which is helping him stay more consistent at the beginnin of the season, although he is still chasing that first premier class win. He was only the second-fastest KTM for much of this morning’s session, but he ended up eighth and the only KTM in the top-10.
Fabio Di Giannantonio is the leading Ducati rider in the championship despite being taken out by Marc Marquez in the Sprint at COTA. The VR46 rider’s future is uncertain at present but he insisted yesterday that his focus remains on racing at the moment, and he finished this morning’s practice fastest overall having used a fresh tyre for his final run.
Franco Morbidelli also used a fresh tyre this morning to go second at the end.
Marc Marquez hasn’t yet stood on a grand prix podium this year and his only win of any kind has come in the Brazil Sprint, in which he narrowly beat Di Giannantonio. Marquez’s form this year has been hampered so far by his physical condition, and he was walking around yesterday with a new scar on his arm from his high-speed Texas practice crash almost a month ago.
The reigning champion was fifth this morning and, like Bezzecchi ahead of him, didn’t use a fresh tyre. Fastest of everyone who stayed with the same tyres for the whole session this morning was Alex Marquez in third overall.
There are also two wildcard riders on the grid this weekend as Lorenzo Savadori and Augusto Fernandez line up for Aprilia and Yamaha, respectively, ahead of the first in-season official test of 2026 on Monday.
Factory Yamaha boss Massimo Meregalli explained earlier that Fernandez will be able to help the team work through its testing programme for this weekend, where it has some new items to try, since he is there as a wildcard.
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