Rain, then a drying track – Conditions not ideal in the first practice session – Technical problems for Marc Marquez – Ai Ogura very lucky in highside
The weather played a major role in the MotoGP’s return to Brno (Czech Republic) on Friday. The first practice session started in light rain, but eventually it was possible to switch to slicks. After technical problems, Marc Marquez (Ducati) ended up setting the fastest time (see results).
After overnight rain, the track was still damp in the morning. It was also cloudy and relatively cool, with an air temperature of around 16 degrees Celsius. As the track was last on the calendar in 2020, these were not ideal conditions for working on the setup.
The light rain eased off during the morning and by the start of MotoGP practice, there were already some dry patches visible on the new asphalt. But when the pit lane opened, a few raindrops fell again.
The riders therefore started out on rain tires. Pedro Acosta (KTM) and Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini-Ducati) had never been to Brno before and had to get to know the track first. Returnee Jorge Martin was lapping in the wet for the first time on the Aprilia.
His teammate Marc Bezzecchi crashed in sector 3 on his first flying lap. Shortly afterwards, Marc Marquez pushed his Ducati through the grass behind a guardrail. There was a technical problem, because he had already stalled in turn 1 when he left the pits.
He brought his bike back to the pits via the service road. According to initial information from the Ducati pit, there was an alarm on the dashboard regarding the engine temperature. That’s why Marc Marquez turned off the engine and coasted to a stop.
It looks like @marcmarquez93‘s GP25 has momentarily given up CzechGP pic.twitter.com/0Yo5ZhgfuF
— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) July 18, 2025
Francesco Bagnaia rode with the 2024 chassis, Marc Marquez with the one from the start of the season, and Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46) with the latest version. Interestingly, Di Giannantonio switched back to the aerodynamics from the start of the season on both bikes.
After 20 minutes, the first riders opted for slicks as the rain stopped and a dry racing line began to form. Jack Miller (Pramac-Yamaha) was immediately faster on slicks than he had been on rain tires.
Things continued to go less than ideally for Marc Marquez, who returned to the pits with his second bike and still had no lap time on the board after half an hour. Meanwhile, the slick times were getting significantly faster with every lap.
Violent highside by Ai Ogura
With eleven and a half minutes to go, Ai Ogura took a spectacular highside in turn 3. The Japanese rider was very lucky not to be hit by his Trackhouse Aprilia in the gravel trap. His bike was badly damaged. Ogura was uninjured and walked away.
When the clock ran out, Miller held the fastest time, but Marc Marquez went for another flying lap. He set the fastest time in all four sectors. The stopwatch stopped at 1:54.606 minutes. This meant that Marc Marquez was 0.6 seconds faster than Miller.
The Spaniard also came within a hundredth of a second of his lap record from 2016. Only four riders were within a second of Marc Marquez. In addition to Miller, these were Bagnaia, Alex Marquez (Gresini-Ducati) and Enea Bastianini (Tech3-KTM).
Acosta was already a second behind in sixth place. Bezzecchi continued on his second Aprilia after his early crash and finished seventh. Luca Marini (Honda), Alex Rins (Yamaha), and Takaaki Nakagami (LCR-Honda) completed the top 10.
Due to technical problems, Marc Marquez only completed ten laps. Returnee Martin managed 15 laps on the Aprilia. The reigning world champion finished 17th, two and a half seconds behind.
During the subsequent start practice, Fabio Quartararo’s Yamaha again had a problem with the ride height system.
Afternoon practice begins at 3:00 p.m., when the important Q2 spots will be decided.
