Dominant championship leader Marc Marquez led Pol Espargaro in opening practice for the 2025 Hungarian MotoGP as the series made a return to Balaton Park after more than three decades.
The six-time premier class world champion riding the Ducati GP25 demonstrated his outstanding form by topping the timesheets with a commanding lap time of 1:37.956.
The practice was characterized by a cautious approach early on, as riders adjusted to the new layout with its 2.53-mile (4.08 km) length and 16 turns, featuring a mixture of fast and technical sections.
The circuit’s narrow width of 12 to 15 meters required precision and discipline from the riders to make quick laps without error.
Marc Marquez’s mastery of new circuits was evident as he has a track record of winning inaugural races on new or modified tracks, such as Circuit of the Americas and Termas de Rio Hondo.
Fresh off his crushing Austrian MotoGP victory, Marquez entered the weekend with a formidable 142-point lead over his nearest rival and a six-race win streak.
Marquez’s superior pace remained unchallenged throughout the practice despite the session being interrupted by a red flag after 15 minutes due to an oil spillage from Raul Fernandez’s Aprilia RS-GP which demanded track cleaning.
In striking contrast to Marquez’s debut at Balaton Park on a MotoGP bike, Pol Espargaro of Red Bull KTM Tech3 emerged as the closest challenger in MotoGP Hungary FP1 finishing just 0.277s adrift and comfortably ahead of most other riders.
Espargaro who is serving as a replacement for the injured Maverick Vinales has the unique advantage of prior experience at Balaton Park thanks to a June test and therefore showed confident pace under the unfamiliar track conditions.
Pol also introduced a new exhaust system on his KTM, signaling KTM’s ongoing efforts to optimize performance on the new layout.
KTM Factory rookie sensation Pedro Acosta continued his strong start to the weekend by finishing third, 0.570s off the benchmark.
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Luca Marini of Honda HRC Castrol was the fastest representative of the Japanese manufacturers in fourth place. Marini reportedly entered the session with a new chassis setup which seemed to offer him stability and confidence around the track, putting Honda on the radar for a competitive weekend.
Following closely in fifth was Alex Marquez on the BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati GP24, 0.727 seconds behind his brother Marc.
Additional notable performances included Marco Bezzecchi who finished sixth aboard the Aprilia RS-GP, followed by Franco Morbidelli from the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team Ducati in seventh.
Morbidelli’s session was tough as he suffered two crashes, first at Turn 1 and later at Turn 15, raising concerns about his rhythm and setup.
Enea Bastianini placed eighth on the sister KTM Tech3 RC16 with Fermin Aldeguer close behind in ninth while reigning MotoGP World Champion Jorge Martin rebounded from an engine blow out to round out the top ten.
Fabio Quartararo and Fabio Di Giannantonio secured 11th and 12th respectively followed by Pramac Yamaha’s Jack Miller.
Johann Zarco marked the second Honda in 14th, however, factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia was among the big names facing the prospect of Q1 after finishing down in 15th.
Trackhouse Racing duo Raul Fernandez and Ai Ogura, secured 16th and 17th, ahead of Miguel Oliveira and Joan Mir. Alex Rins and Brad Binder closed out proceedings over two seconds off the benchmark.
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