Alex Marquez paces Jerez MotoGP Friday practice as Pedro Acosta drops to Q1

Alex Marquez set the benchmark in Friday’s practice for the 2026 Jerez MotoGP as Pedro Acosta dropped to Q1 for the first time this year, while Francesco Bagnaia crashed out early.

The BK8 Gresini Racing Ducati rider returned to the top after a challenging start to the season with a blistering 1:35.704s, beating FP1 pacesetter Fabio di Giannantonio by 0.333s.

The 45‑minute session was a tightly choreographed battle of tyre‑strategy, late‑lap aggression and survival on a track that has always demanded respect from the premier‑class field, and the results painted a picture of both emerging form and lingering fragility among the championship’s front‑runners.

The session kicked off with immediate fireworks as Bagnaia crashed at Turn 1 on his very first flying lap while trailing Alex Marquez through the tight, technical opening corner.

Pecco’s early exit from contention was a bitter blow, especially as he was eager to test Ducati’s latest upgrades amid a season where consistency has eluded him; he remounted but could only muster a P6 by the end, his bike showing signs of braking instability that plagued his efforts throughout.

Undeterred by the chaos, Di Giannantonio seized the early initiative by slotting a 1:36.954 that briefly put him atop the order after the first exploratory runs, with Alex Marquez hot on his tail and just a fraction of a second adrift.

However, the younger Marquez turned the wick up around the halfway mark, unleashing two consecutive session-best laps into the 1:35s that brought him within a whisker of the all‑time Jerez MotoGP lap record.

Title leader Marco Bezzecchi climbed to P3 with a late improvement on the Aprilia Racing RS-GP, pulling ahead of several Ducatis including reigning champion Marc Marquez, who slotted into P4, 0.523 seconds off his brother’s benchmark.

Ai Ogura impressed in P5 on the Trackhouse Aprilia, while Bagnaia recovered to P6 as the crash left him ruing lost opportunities to benchmark Ducati’s new aero tweaks.

Ogura’s teammate Raul Fernandez was seventh fastest followed by Fermin Aldeguer on the second BK8 Gresini Ducati with Jorge Martin rallying to ninth despite a front-end washout at the infamous Turn 13 – the Jorge Lorenzo Corner – midway through the session.

Closing the automatic Q2 spots was Enea Bastianini on the Red Bull KTM Tech3.

Yet for all the front‑pack fireworks, the most talked‑about subplot of the session was the disappointing showing from Pedro Acosta who found himself in P15 after losing valuable time at Turn‑6, where his KTM’s front end squirmed under heavy braking pressure.

Full 2026 Jerez MotoGP Friday Practice Results

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Fabio Di Giannantonio tops first Jerez MotoGP practice, Jorge Martin crashes post FP1