Acosta leads Bezzecchi by 0.053s on a competitive Friday in Valencia.
KTM lead Aprilia on the opening day of action as half a second covers the top 14 heading into Saturday’s action.
The rider to beat on MotoGP’s final Friday of the season? Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). The KTM star set a 1:29.240 to beat Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) by just 0.053s at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, as Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) earned P3 in what was a very competitive opening day of action at the Motul Grand Prix of the Valencian Community.
Bezzecchi on top early, but then Turn 4 bites
It was Bezzecchi who led the way for the majority of the opening half an hour, but the Italian didn’t have it all his own way. A crash occurred for the Aprilia star at Turn 4 while he was shadowing Acosta, with fellow Aprilia rider Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) hitting the deck at Turn 3 just before we entered the final half an hour of Practice.
At the same time, Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team’s Fabio Di Giannantonio and Morbidelli climbed to P1 and P2, before Acosta stepped up his pace to go two tenths clear of the fluorescent yellow Ducati duo with a 1:29.790, and on his next lap, the sophomore set the exact same time. Consistency.
Problems for Quartararo’s M1
Elsewhere, Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) encountered an issue with his YZR-M1 on the front straight as we dipped into the closing 30 minutes, which looked like it signalled the end to the session for the Frenchman’s number one machine.
Acosta moves the goalposts in Q2 chase
Heading into the final 15 minutes, Acosta’s advantage grew to over half a second after setting a 1:29.240, with Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) jumping up to P2 to act as the #37’s closest challenger. Morbidelli changed that with under 12 minutes left; however, the Italian was still over 0.5s away from Acosta’s benchmark.
The gap then closed when Alex Marquez, Di Giannantonio and Quartararo wriggled their way above Morbidelli, with Acosta’s lead now three and a half tenths with seven minutes left on the clock. It was then down to 0.236s as Bezzecchi landed his session best lap, and on his next push, the Italian went 0.053s away from Acosta.
Miller was back into the top three as well now, as KTM led Aprilia, Yamaha and Ducati with three minutes left, with Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) still outside the top 10. Things then got worse for Pecco when Ogura shot from P15 to P3, as plenty of improvements were chalked in ahead of the chequered flag.
There weren’t many more after that though. Bagnaia couldn’t find time and found himself outside the top 10, with Acosta holding onto P1 thanks to that earlier time.
Your Friday top 10 in Valencia
Alex Marquez ended the day in P4 behind the aforementioned top three, with rookie Ogura completing the top five. Miller was the top Yamaha on Day 1 in P6, Di Giannantonio ended the final Friday of 2025 in P7, with Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP), Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol) and Quartararo earning automatic Q2 honours.
Coming up: Tissot Sprint Saturday in Valencia
Half a second splits the top 14, which consists of Acosta, 14th place Bagnaia, and everyone sandwiched between the two, with 0.9s covering the top 19. It’s a tight affair in Valencia, which sets us up nicely for qualifying and Tissot Sprint Saturday in Valencia.
Results HERE as we now go full steam ahead into Saturday at the season finale.
Moto2™: Moreira Q1-bound in Valencia as Holgado sets the pace
The Championship leader finishes P19 on Friday, with title rival Gonzalez 10th quickest at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.
An early slice of drama into the Moto2 title deciding weekend, then. Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team) will be battling it out in Q1 on Saturday afternoon at the Grand Prix of Valencia after finishing Friday’s Practice session in P19, while title rival Manuel Gonzalez (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) sails into Q2 with a P10 result on Day 1. Meanwhile, despite a late tumble, Daniel Holgado (CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team) led the way with a 1:32.408, with Jake Dixon (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) and Daniel Muñoz (Red Bull KTM Ajo) completing the top three.
Moments after going fastest, Holgado was forced to lay his Triumph-Kalex machine down in the gravel at Turn 2 after a mistake under brakes, which meant both CFMOTO Inde Aspar Team riders crashed in Practice after David Alonso’s earlier off.
Holgado held the lead heading into the final three minutes, but Moreira found himself in P17. On his penultimate lap, the Brazilian couldn’t find an improvement, so it all came down to the Championship leader’s final lap of the session. And again, a time good enough for Q2 didn’t come. A Friday shock in the Moto2 title race, with Moreira in Q1 for the first time since the Czech GP.
Izan Guevara (BLUCRU Pramac Yamaha Moto2) – after a heavy crash on the exit of Turn 4 in FP1 – and the impressive Alex Escrig (KLINT Forward Factory Team) rounded out the fastest five on Day 1, as attention now turns to Q1 on Saturday afternoon.
Joining Moreira in the first part of qualifying are the likes of 2025 Grand Prix winners Aron Canet (Fantic Racing) and Alonso, and with the times so tight on Day 1, the rider at the top of the standings summit has an uphill climb heading into the weekend.
Tune into Moto2 qualifying at 13:40 local time to see if Moreira can salvage a good grid slot for Sunday’s title showdown.
Moto3™: Almansa flies to top honours on Friday in Valencia
The Spaniard was in great form to head home a Leopard Racing 1-2 in Practice.
Under sunny skies at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia, David Almansa (Leopard Racing) was lightning quick on Friday to secure top spot and a pathway to Q2. He set fastest lap after fastest lap to shave almost a second off the old lap record. The Spaniard sported a margin of over three tenths of a second and goes into Saturday as the rider to beat.
As he so often does on a Friday afternoon, the #22 set the pace but kept on getting quicker and quicker with each lap, eventually ending 0.310s clear of teammate Adrian Fernandez. A Leopard Racing 1-2 on the opening day as they headed off Valentin Perrone (Red Bull KTM Tech3) who was back in contention in third. Guido Pini (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP) finished in fourth and was consistent throughout the session whilst Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia) continued to show his Friday form improvements with P5.
Other highlights throughout the order included Jesus Rios (Rivacold Snipers Team) in seventh, through to Q2 for the first time and just ahead of Maximo Quiles (CFMOTO Valresa Aspar Team). Adrian Cruces (CIP Green Power) finished P11 ahead of Casey O’Gorman (LIQUI MOLY Dynavolt Intact GP) and Marco Morelli (GRYD – MLav Racing), all making it through.