KTM’s Pedro Acosta delivered a dominant display in Friday’s practice for the 2026 Hungarian MotoGP at Balaton Park, beating VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio by almost half-a-second.
The young Spanish rider, who entered the round as the fourth-placed championship contender 50 points behind leader Marco Bezzecchi, produced a crushing lap of 1m36.827s that put him over four tenths clear of Di Giannantonio.
Friday afternoon’s practice at Balaton Park began with Fermin Aldeguer setting an early benchmark of 1m38.162s after just 10 minutes of running on his BK8 Gresini Ducati.
Aldeguer’s lead held for the better part of the session’s first half, but with 35 minutes remaining on the clock Acosta made his first serious time attack on fresh soft rubber which yielded 1m37.741s, taking over the top spot.
With 10 minutes to go, Acosta improved to a 1m37.401s as Aldeguer closed the gap to just 0.022s on his penultimate run, before Raul Fernandez claimed the top spot with three minutes remaining.
However, Acosta ultimately found that first 1m36s lap of the weekend on his final flying lap that left him 0.413s clear of the field, with VR46 Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio emerging as his nearest challenger after improving to second late on to end the day as the top Ducati rider.
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Fernandez led the Aprilia charge in third on the Trackhouse-run RS-GP26, followed by Aldeguer in fourth, while Ai Ogura made it two Trackhouse Aprilias in the top five.
Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi was sixth on the factory Aprilia, 0.675s off Acosta, with Marc Marquez shadowing him in seventh. Diogo Moreira was the leading Honda in eighth, followed by Jorge Martin on the sister Aprilia, and Yamaha’s Jack Miller.
Francesco Bagnaia, meanwhile, faced a frustrating practice that ultimately knocked him out of the top 10 in the dying stages. The Italian rider finished 14th, 1.1s off Acosta’s pace, and as a result will face Q1 on Saturday morning.
Full 2026 Hungarian MotoGP Practice Results – Friday
| Pos | Rider | Team | Time/Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pedro Acosta | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | 1’36.827s |
| 2 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | Pertamina VR46 Ducati (GP26) | +0.413s |
| 3 | Raul Fernandez | Trackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP26) | +0.501s |
| 4 | Fermin Aldeguer | BK8 Gresini Ducati (GP25) | +0.613s |
| 5 | Ai Ogura | Trackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP26) | +0.654s |
| 6 | Marco Bezzecchi | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP26) | +0.675s |
| 7 | Marc Marquez | Ducati Lenovo (GP26) | +0.733s |
| 8 | Diogo Moreira | Pro Honda LCR (RC213V) | +0.881s |
| 9 | Jorge Martin | Aprilia Racing (RS-GP26) | +0.907s |
| 10 | Jack Miller | Pramac Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +0.933s |
| Q1: | |||
| 11 | Fabio Quartararo | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +1.044s |
| 12 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | Pramac Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +1.098s |
| 13 | Luca Marini | Honda HRC Castrol (RC213V) | +1.122s |
| 14 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati Lenovo (GP26) | +1.159s |
| 15 | Enea Bastianini | Red Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16) | +1.176s |
| 16 | Joan Mir | Honda HRC Castrol (RC213V) | +1.197s |
| 17 | Iker Lecuona | BK8 Gresini Ducati (GP26) | +1.222s |
| 18 | Brad Binder | Red Bull KTM (RC16) | +1.238s |
| 19 | Maverick Viñales | Red Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16) | +1.282s |
| 20 | Franco Morbidelli | Pertamina VR46 Ducati (GP25) | +1.509s |
| 21 | Alex Rins | Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) | +1.846s |
| 22 | Cal Crutchlow | Castrol Honda LCR (RC213V) | +2.907s |
