Brno qualifying: Ogura half a second off the record – Martin in Q1!

The 22 MotoGP riders were greeted by a midsummer heat of 30°C on Friday afternoon for the one-hour qualifying session at the Automotodrom in Brno. In the first free practice session that morning, world champion Marc Marquez (Ducati) topped the timesheets with a lap of 1:53.303. However, the gaps were very narrow, with the top 10 separated by just 0.542 seconds.

Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) finished only 16th in the morning session, but got off to a flying start in qualifying. The Italian moved to the top of the timesheets early on and was already challenging Marc Marquez’s FP1 best time after just a few minutes. Bezzecchi was the first rider to beat Marquez’s time and held on to the top spot.

Marc Marquez suffers second crash of the day

Marc Marquez suffered his second crash of the day after ten minutes. The Spaniard slid into the gravel trap at Turn 11, but managed to ride his damaged Desmosedici back to the Ducati pit under his own power.

Pedro Acosta (KTM) narrowly missed the 1:53-minute mark with his lap of 1:53.002 and moved into the lead. Shortly before the halfway point, Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse-Aprilia) took the lead after setting the weekend’s first sub-1:52 lap. His team-mate Ai Ogura went one better shortly afterwards, completing the circuit in 1:52.718 minutes.

Marco Bezzecchi stormed to a new track record after 28 minutes: the clock stopped at 1:52.275 minutes. At that point, three Aprilias (Bezzecchi, Ogura, Fernandez) were ahead of two KTMs (Acosta, Viñales) – the best-placed Ducati (Fabio Di Giannantonio) was only in sixth place and was already a second behind.

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MotoGP World Championship

07.08.2026 - 10:55

LCR Honda stand-in rider Cal Crutchlow caused yellow flags to be waved 23 minutes before the end of qualifying. The Briton had crashed at Turn 8. Compared to the crash-filled start to FP1, however, qualifying proceeded in a much more orderly fashion. Maverick Viñales had moved up to second place before the final push for lap times began.

Pedro Acosta moved to the top of the timesheets 16 minutes before the end. After the Spaniard had set a track record, he ran wide at Turn 1. Smoke rose from the fairing of his KTM RC16.

At 15:48, Marc Marquez made history by setting the first sub-1:52 lap at the Automotodrom Brno: the clock stopped at 1:51.988 minutes. Shortly afterwards, Ai Ogura fell just 0.010 seconds short of Marquez’s time and slotted into second place.

Ahead of the final showdown, Jorge Martin was the only Aprilia rider outside the top 10. The Spaniard therefore had to deliver to avoid having to go through Q1 on Saturday morning.

Fabio Di Giannantonio stepped up a gear on his second attempt on soft tyres and took the lead. The Italian was 0.046 seconds faster than Marc Marquez. But the final word had not yet been spoken: Marco Bezzecchi clocked the fastest sector times and brought the best time down to 1:51.826 minutes. His team-mate Jorge Martin took a big risk to secure a place in the top 10. With two minutes to go, however, he was only in ninth place and had to hold his nerve to secure direct qualification for Q2.

Trackhouse rider Ai Ogura surprised everyone with a new fastest lap one and a half minutes before the end: the Japanese rider pipped Bezzecchi by just under a tenth of a second and topped the timesheets with his 1:51.735 lap. A crash by Joan Mir at Turn 7 brought out the yellow flags at the Omega.

With Ogura and Bezzecchi, two Aprilias held their own at the top, but Jorge Martin had slipped out of the top 10. After a slip on his final attempt, Martin abandoned his lap and thus finished the qualifying session in 11th place. The World Championship runner-up will be the only Aprilia rider to compete in Q1 on Saturday morning.

Friday afternoon went better for Ai Ogura, Marco Bezzecchi, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Francesco Bagnaia, Marc Márquez, Pedro Acosta, Joan Mir, Diogo Moreira, Fermín Aldeguer and Raúl Fernández, who all qualified directly for Q2. This meant that three Aprilias, four Ducatis, two Hondas and one KTM were in the top 10.

Qualifying proved disappointing for the four Yamaha riders. After setting the second-fastest time in the morning session, Fabio Quartararo could only manage 14th place in the afternoon session. This made the Frenchman the best-placed Yamaha rider. Quartararo and Martin will face Maverick Viñales, Brad Binder, Franco Morbidelli and Toprak Razgatlioglu, amongst others, in Q1.