MotoGP: KTM lead Aprilia on the opening day of action as half a second covers the top 14 heading into Saturday’s action.
The rider to beat on MotoGP’s final Friday of the season? Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). The KTM star set a 1:29.240 to beat Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) by just 0.053s at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo, as Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) earned P3 in what was a very competitive opening day of action at the Motul Grand Prix of the Valencian Community.
Bezzecchi on top early, but then Turn 4 bites
It was Bezzecchi who led the way for the majority of the opening half an hour, but the Italian didn’t have it all his own way. A crash occurred for the Aprilia star at Turn 4 while he was shadowing Acosta, with fellow Aprilia rider Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) hitting the deck at Turn 3 just before we entered the final half an hour of Practice.
At the same time, Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team’s Fabio Di Giannantonio and Morbidelli climbed to P1 and P2, before Acosta stepped up his pace to go two tenths clear of the fluorescent yellow Ducati duo with a 1:29.790, and on his next lap, the sophomore set the exact same time. Consistency.
Problems for Quartararo’s M1
Elsewhere, Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) encountered an issue with his YZR-M1 on the front straight as we dipped into the closing 30 minutes, which looked like it signalled the end to the session for the Frenchman’s number one machine.
Acosta moves the goalposts in Q2 chase
Heading into the final 15 minutes, Acosta’s advantage grew to over half a second after setting a 1:29.240, with Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) jumping up to P2 to act as the #37’s closest challenger. Morbidelli changed that with under 12 minutes left; however, the Italian was still over 0.5s away from Acosta’s benchmark.
The gap then closed when Alex Marquez, Di Giannantonio and Quartararo wriggled their way above Morbidelli, with Acosta’s lead now three and a half tenths with seven minutes left on the clock. It was then down to 0.236s as Bezzecchi landed his session best lap, and on his next push, the Italian went 0.053s away from Acosta.
Miller was back into the top three as well now, as KTM led Aprilia, Yamaha and Ducati with three minutes left, with Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) still outside the top 10. Things then got worse for Pecco when Ogura shot from P15 to P3, as plenty of improvements were chalked in ahead of the chequered flag.
There weren’t many more after that though. Bagnaia couldn’t find time and found himself outside the top 10, with Acosta holding onto P1 thanks to that earlier time.
Your Friday top 10 in Valencia
Alex Marquez ended the day in P4 behind the aforementioned top three, with rookie Ogura completing the top five. Miller was the top Yamaha on Day 1 in P6, Di Giannantonio ended the final Friday of 2025 in P7, with Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP), Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol) and Quartararo earning automatic Q2 honours.
Coming up: Tissot Sprint Saturday in Valencia
Half a second splits the top 14, which consists of Acosta, 14th place Bagnaia, and everyone sandwiched between the two, with 0.9s covering the top 19. It’s a tight affair in Valencia, which sets us up nicely for qualifying and Tissot Sprint Saturday in Valencia.
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