San Marino GP: Bezzecchi Sets the Pace as Home Dream Podium
Marco Bezzecchi gave the Misano crowd exactly what it came for on the opening day of the Red Bull Grand Prix of San Marino and the Rimini Riviera, topping combined Friday practice on home soil for Aprilia Racing with a 1'30.144 lap, set on his 24th tour of the 4.226km Marco Simoncelli circuit.
The Italian's best came late in a fourth and final run on a fresh medium front and soft rear, and it was enough to hold off a fast-improving Ducati contingent by the narrowest of margins.
Marc Marquez was the closest challenger, just 0.103s adrift for Ducati Lenovo Team, with Gresini's Alex Marquez completing an all-Spanish sandwich around the factory Ducati in third, 0.185s off the pace. Pertamina Enduro VR46's Fabio Di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli rounded out the top five, both within three-tenths of Bezzecchi and signaling strong pace for the Bologna-Italy-based satellite squad.
Red Bull KTM's Pedro Acosta was the fastest non-Ducati, non-Aprilia rider in sixth, ahead of a tightly bunched Honda pairing of Luca Marini and Johann Zarco, who were separated by just 0.014s.
The day's biggest surprise was further down the order. Francesco Bagnaia struggled to string together a clean lap, ending the session 19th, over 1.3 seconds off Bezzecchi's benchmark — a sharp contrast to his form 12 months ago, when he set the all-time Misano lap record of 1'30.031 in 2024. Toprak Razgatlioglu had an even tougher afternoon, propping up the timesheet in 21st for Prima Pramac Yamaha, still searching for rhythm in only his first full season on the prototype.
Bezzecchi's benchmark was the product of a session that kept tightening as track conditions improved through the afternoon (25°C air, 36°C on the tarmac, dry). Bagnaia and Marini traded the early pace-setting honors on soft tyres, before Bezzecchi and Alex Marquez took over as the grip window opened. Di Giannantonio, Marini and Acosta all posted improvements in the closing 20 minutes, but nobody could dislodge the Aprilia rider once he lowered the benchmark to 1'30.144 with ten minutes to spare — a lap built on the fastest final sector of the day.
Peak speeds on the front straight topped out at 300.8 km/h, reached by four riders including Zarco, Diogo Moreira, Brad Binder and Pol Espargaro, underlining how tightly matched the grid remains on raw straight-line pace even as lap-time gaps opened up elsewhere on track.
San Marino GP – MotoGP Practice Top 10
- Marco Bezzecchi – Aprilia Racing – 1:30.144
- Marc Marquez – Ducati Lenovo Team – 1:30.247 (+0.103)
- Alex Marquez – BK8 Gresini Racing – 1:30.329 (+0.185)
- Fabio Di Giannantonio – Pertamina Enduro VR46 – 1:30.385 (+0.241)
- Franco Morbidelli – Pertamina Enduro VR46 – 1:30.415 (+0.271)
- Pedro Acosta – Red Bull KTM Factory Racing – 1:30.488 (+0.344)
- Luca Marini – Honda HRC Castrol – 1:30.640 (+0.496)
- Johann Zarco – Castrol Honda LCR – 1:30.654 (+0.510)
- Pol Espargaro – Red Bull KTM Tech3 – 1:30.674 (+0.530)
- Jorge Martin – Aprilia Racing – 1:30.690 (+0.546)
Riders now turn their attention to Saturday's qualifying sessions, where direct passage into Q2 will be on the line for anyone inside the top ten from this combined practice standing. With Bezzecchi riding the wave of home support and Ducati's trio of Marquez, Marquez and Di Giannantonio snapping at his heels, San Marino is shaping up as one of the closer weekends of the season.
Credit Photo : MotoGP
