Marquez fastest in Phillip Island practice after multiple crashes
NXTbets Pro | Published On: October 23, 2026
Marquez tops practice
Marc Marquez set the pace in opening practice for the Australian Grand Prix at Phillip Island, turning a best lap of 1:27.985 to finish 0.048 seconds ahead of Raul Fernandez. Marquez delivered the quickest time on old tyres, which gave his effort extra weight in a session that already showed how tight the front group could be. Fernandez had briefly held the top spot before Marquez pushed him down with a late lap, and that swap at the top framed the session from start to finish. Jack Miller also spent time at the front after going fastest on fresh tyres, then crashed and had to return to the pit lane on his second bike. He still recovered to take third, 0.135 seconds off the pace. Marco Bezzecchi followed in fourth, Alex Marquez was fifth and Pedro Acosta took sixth. Championship leader Jorge Martin completed the top seven. The spread at the sharp end was small, and the order reflected a session in which a single lap could change the picture quickly.
Crashes hit practice
The opening practice session carried a hard edge as several riders went down while trying to find speed at Phillip Island. Raul Fernandez crashed after briefly leading the session, though he was unhurt and later came back out on his second bike. Miller also crashed after his strong run on fresh tyres, and he too was uninjured before returning to the pit lane on his second bike. Those incidents did not knock them out of the top order, but they changed the rhythm of the session and forced both riders to recover after interruptions. Iker Lecuona’s crash was the most dramatic moment of the session. His bike bounced off the tyre wall and flew over him, a reminder of how fast things can unravel on a demanding circuit. The crashes gave the session a stop-start feel and kept the field from settling into a clean sequence of laps. Even with the interruptions, the top riders still found ways to post times that mattered, and the leaderboard moved as much because of late improvements as it did because of outright pace.
Binder and Marini struggle
Brad Binder‘s practice ended with a recovery job after an engine failure forced a switch to his spare bike, and he still finished 11th. That left him further down the order than the leading group, but he at least managed to bank a representative result after the mechanical problem. Luca Marini had a tougher time. He finished last after battling illness, which left him at the back of the field by the end of the session. Their results rounded out a first practice that produced a sharp contrast between the front-runners and the riders who had to fight through problems just to complete their work. Marquez’s fastest lap on old tyres stood out as the clearest benchmark, while Fernandez, Miller, Bezzecchi, Alex Marquez, Acosta and Martin filled the places behind him. Binder and Marini were left to absorb the kind of setbacks that can reshape a weekend before it really starts. At Phillip Island, the first session already showed that pace, crashes and recovery runs all mattered as the Australian Grand Prix got underway.
