MotoGP, FP2: Marc Marquez crashes (1st) – Pecco Bagnaia shows signs of life

On Friday, Pedro Acosta set the pace at the Red Bull Ring, the home circuit of his employer, KTM. The Spaniard clocked the fastest time in both FP1 in the morning and qualifying in the afternoon. It comes as no surprise that the RC16 performs very well on the Austrian circuit. After all, many test kilometres have been covered there – the stop-and-go nature of the circuit suits the bike well.

Despite the perfect start to the MotoGP weekend in Spielberg, Acosta is not putting any pressure on himself. His first Grand Prix victory is long overdue. Whether it will happen on Sunday depends on many factors – above all, on Ducati and Aprilia. Positions 2 to 6 in qualifying were taken by Fermin Aldeguer, Ai Ogura, Marc Marquez, Jorge Martin and Fabio Di Giannantonio. Next, in seventh place, was Acosta’s team-mate Brad Binder, who seems to be at home on the Red Bull Ring. Gresini star Alex Márquez had a heavy crash coming out of Turn 1. He escaped uninjured, but his Ducati was left in a sorry state following the crash.

Ahead of the qualifying sessions, the second free practice session takes place on Saturday in the MotoGP World Championship. The aim here is to carry out important set-up work for Q1 and Q2, as well as for the sprint race.

At the start of FP2 at 10.10 am, the sky above the Styrian circuit was overcast. It had rained during the night, and the track had now almost completely dried out – though there were still a few wet patches. The air temperature was a cool 15 degrees Celsius. The track surface had warmed up to just 16 degrees.

Aprilia star Marco Bezzecchi was the first to take to the track – on slicks. Top riders such as Pedro Acosta, Brad Binder, Jorge Martín and Marc Márquez bided their time. KTM test rider Pol Espargaró was out on wet tyres. In the opening minutes, only seven riders – Toprak Razgatlioglu, Takaaki Nakagami, Bezzecchi, Raul Fernandez, Alex Rins, Espargaro and Franco Morbidelli – were out on the track.

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Red Bull Ring: Qualifying Moto3

MotoGP World Championship

19.09.2026 - 12:40

After five minutes, Honda test rider Nakagami was leading the session with a time of 1:39.145. Shortly afterwards, Toprak set a new fastest time of 1:35.482. After nine minutes, Pecco Bagnaia and Ai Ogura – who is making his comeback at Spielberg – also joined the session.

The lap times got faster – the order after ten minutes was: Fernández (1:31.548 mins), Toprak, Nakagami, Bezzecchi, Rins, Morbidelli, Bagnaia, Espargaró and Ogura.

After 13 minutes, Nakagami took the lead with a time of 1:31.248 mins. Jack Miller and Diogo Moreira began their day’s work.

Halfway through the 30-minute session, things were in full swing – the rest of the field gradually took to the track. In the meantime, Bagnaia had set a new fastest time of 1:30.590 min.

After 20 minutes, Bagnaia improved his best time to 1:30.093. Right behind him was Acosta in 1:30.907. The track was still wet in places. Then ‘Diggia’ surged forward into second place.

Two minutes later, Martin set the second-fastest time. He was just under two tenths slower than Bagnaia. Marc Marquez was now sixth.

With five minutes to go, Martin set a new fastest lap of 1:29.865. Johann Zarco surged into fifth place. Shortly afterwards, Fermin Aldeguer set the fourth-fastest time.

With two minutes remaining, Marc Marquez took the lead with a time of 1:29.663. One lap later, the champion crashed at Turn 1. It was a careless mistake, which annoyed him.