Marquez's Motegi coronation grows likelier after Friday practice
MotoGP

Marquez's Motegi coronation grows likelier after Friday practice

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
2 min read

Aprilia MotoGP rider Marco Bezzecchi was quickest in a frantic second Friday practice session at Motegi, as Alex Marquez missed out on a direct Q2 slot for the first time in 2025.

The younger Marquez remains the only rider in mathematical title contention besides brother Marc, and Marc needs to outscore him by three points over the Japanese Grand Prix weekend to secure the title.

But while Alex was having a difficult run through the 60-minute session, lacking his usual burst of pace and ending up last on the timesheets after going down at Turn 9, he looked to have salvaged it with a strong push lap on soft tyres in the closing stages.

Marc instead looked in serious danger of missing out on the top 10, only to find a significant laptime gain as part of his final run.

Bezzecchi, who had crashed twice in opening practice, was quickest on a 1m43.193s - just under a couple of tenths shy of the pole record set by Pedro Acosta last year.

Acosta himself was second, sending his bike to shred itself in the gravel at Turn 1 immediately after setting his personal-best time.

The elder Marquez was the fastest of the Ducatis in third, followed by Joan Mir (Honda), Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) and Luca Marini (Honda).

First practice-topper Pecco Bagnaia's resurgence continued here - the rhythm of his session disrupted by an early mechanical issue but the laptimes coming fairly easily during the time attacks.

Either side of ninth-placed Raul Fernandez, Fabio Quartararo - who had gone into the Turn 9 gravel at speed earlier but stayed on - and Johann Zarco both fired in late improvements to deny, respectively, Enea Bastianini and Fermin Aldeguer Q2 spots.

Advancing to Q2: Bezzecchi, Acosta, M Marquez, Mir, Di Giannantonio, Marini, Bagnaia, Quartararo, Fernandez, Zarco

Will contest Q1: Aldeguer, Bastianini, Martin, Ogura, A Marquez, Morbidelli, Binder, Chantra, Rins, Miller, Nakagami, Oliveira, Vinales

Jorge Martin (Aprilia) crashed twice in the session, like team-mate Bezzecchi had done in session one, and ended up only 13th - ahead of two riders with identical laptimes, Ogura and the younger Marquez, whose final-lap attempt to get into the top 10 was immediately undone by a Turn 3 track limits breach.

Franco Morbidelli's Q2 push collapsed with a Turn 9 crash on a fast lap, while Jack Miller's was undone when he fell at Turn 5 on his outlap.

Remarkably, LCR Honda rookie Somkiat Chantra - in by far his most competitive showing of 2025 - was an outside Q2 threat, too, but fell at Turn 3.

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