Alex Marquez sets the fastest time in the first practice session ahead of Marco Bezzecchi—Pedro Acosta follows in third—The KTM rider had the only crash of the session
MotoGP returns from the summer break this weekend with the British Grand Prix at Silverstone. The first free practice session took place under sunny and ideal conditions.
Alex Marquez (Gresini-Ducati) set the fastest time of 1:58.692 minutes. With this lap time, he was already two-tenths of a second faster than the best race lap. Last year, the Spaniard won the Sprint race.
Last year’s winner, Marco Bezzecchi, followed in second place, 0.173 seconds behind. The Aprilia rider made his return after undergoing surgery for a broken left collarbone, which he had sustained at the Sachsenring.
Pedro Acosta finished the first practice session in third place. However, the session did not go smoothly for the KTM rider. After 25 minutes, Acosta crashed at Stowe Corner. It was the only incident of the session.
Raul Fernandez, whose contract with Trackhouse-Aprilia has been extended, followed in fourth place. Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46-Ducati) rounded out the top 5. He switched back to the 2024 aerodynamic package.
Marc Marquez (Ducati) was just under half a second behind and finished in sixth place. Ai Ogura (Trackhouse-Aprilia), who finished the first half of the season in second place in the World Championship, posted the seventh-fastest time.
Rounding out the top 10 were Jorge Martin (Aprilia), Franco Morbidelli (VR46-Ducati), and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati). The top Honda rider was Joan Mir in 11th place. He was one second off the pace (see results).
The fastest Yamaha was 1.3 seconds off the lead on this long and fast track. Fabio Quartararo finished in 15th place. Yamaha test rider Augusto Fernandez is also competing this weekend on a wildcard.
A FAST crash for @ 37_pedroacosta at Stowe BritishGP pic.twitter.com/ylxm1Ui2hp
— MotoGP™ (@MotoGP) August 7, 2026
The slowest rider in the first practice session was rookie Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac-Yamaha), who was 2.3 seconds off the pace. He is familiar with Silverstone from the Red Bull Rookies Cup in 2013 and 2014.
In addition to Cal Crutchlow (LCR-Honda), two other reserve riders are competing at Silverstone. Iker Lecuona is standing in for Fermin Aldeguer on the Gresini team, who is still recovering from the vertebral fracture he suffered at Assen.
At Tech3-KTM, Pol Espargaro is replacing Maverick Viñales, whose left shoulder has not yet healed. On Friday, Tech3 team principal Günther Steiner emphasized that Viñales has not been fired and will return as soon as he is fit.
The afternoon practice session begins at 5:00 p.m. CEST. That’s when it will be decided which ten riders qualify directly for Q2.
