MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez headed up the running order in the opening Austrian Grand Prix practice, as the series reconvened after the summer break.
Key moments:
- Strong early showing from Ducati
- Morbidelli and Vinales back in action
- Every manufacturer in top nine
The Red Bull Ring is not one of Marquez's stronger circuits - it's one of four he hasn't won at in MotoGP with Portimao, Mandalika and Buddh - and he did not immediately hit the top of the timing screens like he tends to do on most weekends.
But eventually, without a change of tyres, Marquez did move into his familiar first place, marking the 10th time of 13 this season that he's led opening practice.
He also concluded the session with a 1m29.886s on used tyres, half a second back from his session-topping 1m29.376s - but a time that still would've been good enough for sixth.
Team-mate Pecco Bagnaia was at the sharp end early on instead, but finished the session three tenths back from Marquez's time, followed by Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi - the only non-Ducati rider in the top five - and Ducati satellite riders Alex Marquez and Franco Morbidelli, the latter making his return from injury.
The younger Marquez practiced the long lap loop during the session, as he is due to serve a penalty on Sunday following his collision with Joan Mir at Brno.
Mir, something of a Red Bull Ring specialist, was the top Honda in sixth, followed by the top Yamaha in seventh - that of Fabio Quartararo.
Reigning champion Jorge Martin had a competitive session, though could only move up to eighth in the end after fitting a new set of tyres in the final minutes.
KTM - and particularly Enea Bastianini - looked strong in the early going, but ended up the slowest of the brands, Bastianini 0.001s behind ninth-placed Pedro Acosta, with new aero being debuted this weekend on the KTM RC16 (and also the Honda RC213V).
Like Morbidelli, Bastianini's Tech3 team-mate Maverick Vinales is also back this weekend - from his first-ever MotoGP injury absence - but appears, as he had expected, further away from full fitness, placing 20th in the opening session.
The Turn 4 braking point strikes again, this time @jackmilleraus 💨#AustrianGP 🇦🇹 pic.twitter.com/4cCnTpfzZl
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) August 15, 2025
There were no major incidents to speak of during the session, with the most notable mistakes coming from Bezzecchi and Pramac Yamaha's Jack Miller, who both had to roll through the gravel after getting Turn 4 wrong.
