Marc Marquez tops Aragon FP1 as Ducati pace sets the tone
NXTbets Pro | Published On: August 28, 2026
Marquez Tops FP1
Marc Marquez opened MotoGP’s Aragon Grand Prix on Friday with the fastest lap in FP1 at MotorLand, and he did it with a 1:47.532 on the factory Ducati. The time stood as the best of the 22-rider field and gave Marquez the early edge in dry conditions. Raul Fernandez stayed closest to him, just 0.035 seconds back with a 1:47.567, while Marco Bezzecchi took third at 1:47.753. The order at the top showed how tight the session was from the start, but Marquez held the decisive margin. He put the Ducati on top and left the opening practice run with the benchmark time.
The result also set the shape of the session around him. Marquez led the field from the front and kept the pressure on everyone who followed. Fernandez matched that pace well enough to keep the gap small, and Bezzecchi added another strong lap to round out the top three. With the track dry and the conditions steady, the quickest riders had the chance to show their true speed right away. Marquez took full advantage of that. His lap was the reference point from the first group all the way through the end of the session, and no one in the field matched it.
Fernandez Chases Close
Fernandez and Bezzecchi helped turn the top of the timing sheet into a tight fight behind Marquez, and both riders settled into the leading group without giving up much ground. Alex Marquez finished fourth, keeping another Ducati-powered name near the front, and Pedro Acosta took fifth even after a late crash at Turn 12. Jack Miller followed in sixth, giving another rider a place inside the front half of the order. Fermin Aldeguer finished ninth, while Franco Morbidelli, Fabio di Giannantonio and Fabio Quartararo completed the top 10. That group gave the session a deep, competitive feel, with several riders spread across a narrow range in the opening run of the weekend.
Acosta’s crash did not knock him out of the picture early in the session, and he still held on to fifth. That result mattered because it kept him ahead of a packed chase group that included Miller and the riders just outside the top six. Aldeguer’s ninth-place run also kept him in the mix, and the final two spots in the top 10 went to riders with enough pace to stay within sight of the leaders. Morbidelli, di Giannantonio and Quartararo all banked strong enough laps to stay in the top tier of the session. The top 10 looked stacked, but Marquez still owned the fastest time by clear margins at the top.
Zarco Returns 11th
Johann Zarco finished 11th in his first MotoGP appearance since his Barcelona crash, a return that put him just outside the top 10 and back into live action on the Aragon weekend. Jorge Martin ended the session 18th, and Francesco Bagnaia closed in 20th. Those results sat well behind the front-runners, but they still gave the session a full spread from top to bottom. With Zarco back in the field, the opening practice run carried extra weight for a rider returning from a crash, and his 11th-place finish placed him ahead of several established names.
The final order reflected how much work still waited for the riders lower down the sheet. Martin’s 18th-place run left him with ground to make up after FP1, and Bagnaia’s 20th-place finish put him even farther back as the weekend began. Marquez, meanwhile, left Friday with the top time and the most complete early statement of the session. The dry track gave everyone a clean chance to attack the lap times, and Marquez answered with the quickest one of all.
