– Pedro Acosta (KTM) won the MotoGP practice on Friday afternoon at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg and thus leads the list of ten riders who qualified directly for the Q2 segment of qualifying.
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Under mostly cloudy skies, but with 20 degrees Celsius in the air and slightly higher temperatures on the asphalt than in the morning, all 22 MotoGP riders continued to focus on the race weekend for the Austrian Grand Prix during practice.
Shortly before the end, there was a red flag due to a crash by Alex Marquez (Gresini-Ducati). When the session was resumed, Alex Marquez immediately returned on his second motorcycle and secured direct entry to Q2.
The session best time from the first free practice (FP1), set by Pedro Acosta with 1:29.851 minutes, was already beaten after five minutes in the afternoon, by Acosta himself. However, his time of 1:29.301 minutes was then significantly improved – mostly by himself.
After the 60 minutes of practice, the session best time and thus the best time of the day stands at 1:28.381 minutes, set by Acosta. Although this is still quite a bit off the MotoGP track record at Spielberg (1:27.748 minutes by Jorge Martin in the 2024 season on a Pramac-Ducati), the time is more than enough for the Friday best time in 2026.
Ai Ogura in the Top 3 on Day 1 of his Comeback
Second fastest behind Acosta was Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini-Ducati) with a gap of 0.127 seconds. Ai Ogura (Trackhouse-Aprilia) finished the day of his comeback after missing two race weekends in third position. The top 5 were rounded out by Marc Marquez (Ducati) and Jorge Martin (Aprilia), who are tied at the top of the championship standings.
Also securing direct entry to Q2 for Saturday were Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46-Ducati), Brad Binder (KTM), Alex Marquez on the second motorcycle after destroying the first in the crash, as well as Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) and Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) (Results: MotoGP practice in Spielberg 2026).
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Francesco Bagnaia misses direct Q2 entry for the fifth time in a row
Three-time Spielberg winner Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) also struggled in the afternoon after finishing 18th in FP1. In practice, he was only 18th with a gap of 0.885 seconds to the top. This means “Pecco” Bagnaia has now failed to secure direct entry to Q2 for the fifth consecutive time.
Pol Espargaro, again the replacement for the injured Maverick Vinales at Tech3-KTM this weekend, missed direct entry to Q2 this time with 15th place. A week ago in Misano, he had surprisingly made it. In FP1 on Friday morning in Spielberg, Espargaro was even second fastest.
Takaaki Nakagami, who is stepping in for the ill Joan Mir in the Honda factory team this weekend, finished his first day of a race weekend in 2026 in 20th place. Slower than the Honda substitute rider were the Pramac-Yamaha teammates Jack Miller and Toprak Razgatlioglu.
Alex Marquez crash causes short red flag
As in the morning, there were again a few excursions into the gravel trap in the afternoon. And: Due to exceeding track limits, many lap times were again deleted. Johann Zarco (LCR-Honda; 12th), Alex Marquez exiting turn 1, and Jack Miller (Pramac-Yamaha; 21st) in the chicane crashed.
The crash of Alex Marquez, as already mentioned, caused a short interruption of the session before the final attacks were launched. Alex Marquez got up immediately after the crash himself, but his light blue Gresini-Ducati GP26 was heavily damaged and lay in an unfavorable spot where there was no immediate opening in the guardrail nearby.
At the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, the sprint on Saturday (start: 3:00 PM) covers a distance of 14 laps. The Austrian Grand Prix on Sunday (start: 2:00 PM) is scheduled for 28 laps (MotoGP 2026 live: The weekend in Spielberg on TV and stream).
Read more MotoGP live ticker Spielberg: Acosta dominates practice Friday
