Marco Bezzecchi tops San Marino GP Practice ahead of Marc and Alex Márquez to secure Q2.
Local favourite Marco Bezzecchi surged to the top of Friday afternoon’s Practice session, fending off Marc Márquez and Alex Márquez on his factory Aprilia to secure direct passage into Q2.
An intense early battle for top spot set the tempo, with Alex Marquez and Bezzecchi trading benchmark laps. However, it was the Italian who ultimately prevailed on home soil, putting Aprilia at the top of the timesheets in a closely fought contest with Ducati at the sharp end of the field.
Fabio Di Giannantonio maintained his strong momentum by setting the fourth-fastest time, just ahead of VR46 teammate Franco Morbidelli in fifth, who secured his first top-five Practice result since the Italian GP at Mugello in May. The squad’s strong showing came under the watchful eye of team owner and seven-time MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi, who was supporting the garage trackside.
Pedro Acosta bounced back from his morning crash to finish sixth, leading Honda’s Luca Marini in seventh. Johann Zarco put in a solid display to seal eighth place, locking himself directly into Q2 alongside KTM test and replacement rider Pol Espargaro in ninth.
Championship leader Jorge Martin claimed the tenth and final automatic Q2 spot for the San Marino GP. His survival leaves the other riders forced to navigate Q1 tomorrow morning, including local star Enea Bastianini.
As Trackhouse Racing’s sole entry this weekend, Raul Fernandez settled for 12th place despite an eye-catching third in FP1. Fermin Aldeguer, Joan Mir, and Brad Binder rounded out the top 15.
Despite holding the lap record here, a 1:30.031 set in 2024, factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia struggled, again, to find setup solutions throughout the San Marino GP Free Practice session and ended up down in a distant 19th place.
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