Pedro Acosta topped MotoGP World Championship Free Practice One (FP1) Friday morning at Red Bull Ring – Spielberg, in Austria. Riding his Michelin-shod Red Bull KTM Factory Racing RC16, the Spaniard turned a lap of 1:29.851 around the 2.7-mile (4.35 km) track and led the 22-rider field.
Pol Espargaro was second-best with a 1:30.084 on his Red Bull KTM Tech3 RC16.
Jorge Martin was third with a lap of 1:30.159 on his Aprilia Racing RS-GP26.
Marc Marquez got fourth on his Lenovo Team Ducati Desmosedici GP26 with a time of 1:30.186.
Johann Zarco finished the session fifth with a time of 1:30.364 on his Castrol Honda LCR RC213V.
More, from a press release issued by MotoGP:
Acosta leads Espargaro as KTM kickstart home Grand Prix with FP1 1-2. That’s not a bad start to the Austrian GP for the Austrians, is it? The #37 sets the pace ahead of the #44, with Martin completing the top three.
Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) and Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Tech3) hand the Austrian factory a 1-2 start to the Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Austria, which is KTM’s first 1-2 in any session since Practice at the 2025 Catalan GP. Not bad at all, especially after Espargaro’s small crash at Turn 4. Third place, despite a technical issue in the session, was Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing), who arrives at the Red Bull Ring level on points with fourth-fastest Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) at the top of the overall standings.
Acosta’s 1:29.851 was a couple of tenths faster than Espargaro’s best effort, with the back-to-back podium finisher the only rider to dip their toe into the 1:29 bracket on Friday morning. Martin and Marc Marquez were both three tenths away from Acosta’s time, with fifth-place Johann Zarco (Castrol Honda LCR) half a second adrift from the FP1 summit.
Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) kickstarted his weekend with a P6 finish, as the Italian aims to bounce back from his Sunday error a few days ago in Misano. And staying on the subject of Aprilia, Ai Ogura (SuperFiles Trackhouse MotoGP Team) began his injury comeback with a P19 finish. The gap to Acosta? 1.4s.
That’s FP1 in the books then, with the fastest 16 riders split by under a second. Coming up, the all-important Practice session at 3 pm local time. Don’t miss it.
