Pedro Acosta led MotoGP World Championship practice Friday afternoon at Circuit de Barcelona – Catalunya, in Spain. Riding his Red Bull KTM Factory Racing RC16 on spec Michelin tires, the Spaniard turned a lap time of 1:38.710 to lead the 22-rider field.
Alex Marquez was the best of the rest with a 1:38.728 on his BK8 Gresini Racing Ducati Desmosedici GP26.
Brad Binder, Acosta’s teammate, was third at 1:38.780.
Raul Fernandez finished the session fourth with a 1:38.788 on his Trackhouse Aprilia RS-GP26.
Johann Zarco finished the practice session fifth on his Castrol Honda LCR RC213V with a lap time of 1:38.789.
Marco Bezzecchi got 7th on his Aprilia Racing RS-GP26 with a lap time of 1:38.831 and his teammate, Jorge Martin was 17th with a time of 1:39.389.
Francesco Bagnaia is 12th on his Lenovo Team Ducati Desmosedici GP26 with a time of 1:39.060.
motogp practice
More from a press release issued by MotoGP:
Acosta puts KTM top in MotoGP Practice, Martin mired in Q1. MotoGP just keeps getting closer and closer as for the second consecutive Friday, we celebrate the closest-ever top ten on a Friday with Acosta leading the way.
0.269s and counting, all five manufacturers and eight different teams get through to Q2 after a frantic flurry of action on Friday as all chase Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). The #37 took KTM to top honours with teammate Brad Binder in third, both split by last year’s Catalan GP winner Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP). From his double at Le Mans, Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) finds himself in Q1 after crashing late on and finishing P17.
GETTING UNDERWAY
Green lights on, let action commence; MotoGP Practice got underway with everyone spending the first half of the session getting up to speed and refining their feelings and packages. Halfway through the session and the Aprilias were on song, with Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) leading the way ahead of Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team), the Japanese star in great form following on from a maiden podium last time out. That was until he fell at Turn 2; a front-end tuck nothing too much to worry about but the rest of the session would be on his spare bike whilst his main one was being repaired.
SECOND HALF, KTM CHARGE
Into the second half of the session and riders were pushing on; Bezzecchi suffered an off-track excursion at Turn 4 but kept it upright whilst Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) wasn’t so lucky and fell at Turn 5 although the home-hero was all OK. Elsewhere, the first 1’38 of the weekend was done by Brad Binder, with the South African in mighty form like last year, when he topped the same session. The KTM charge was loading too, with teammate Acosta taking over in P1 whilst podium finisher form 2025 Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) was provisionally third.
CRUNCH TIME, PUSH TIME
There were improvements aplenty inside the final ten minutes with Alex Marquez and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) getting into the top three, whilst Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol)slotted into fourth. Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) had got himself into P6 whilst Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) was holding onto the final Q2 spot. Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) were two big names who needed a time going into the final minute of the day.
That time wouldn’t come for the #89 as the Martinator hit the deck at Turn 2 for a second crash of the day, ending his Practice session early and sending him into Q1 for the first time this season. The lap time looked to be found for Pecco though, who squeezed into P10 but it wasn’t to be as others charged behind as Johann Zarco (Castrol Honda LCR) and Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) bumped the double World Champion out.
YOUR TOP 10 IN BARCELONA ON FRIDAY
At the front, nobody could stop the shark attack as Acosta bolted his RC16 KTM to top spot ahead of 2025 Catalan GP winner Alex Marquez. Two KTMs in the top three with Binder flying in third. Raul Fernandez snatched fourth on his final flying lap whilst Zarco bagged P5 ahead of Di Giannantonio and Championship leader Bezzecchi. Mir was eighth at the flag but was a late crasher at Turn 10 whilst two Yamahas are straight into Q2 with Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) in ninth ahead of Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP). Bastianini’s valiant performance wasn’t enough and left him 11th, a place ahead of Bagnaia whilst Le Mans podium finisher Ogura was 13th, four places ahead of Martin.
Sprint Saturday awaits; MotoGP qualifying is going to be action-packed in Barcelona!
