03:40
Marc Marquez saves a front-end moment... in-between the practice starts!
Marc Marquez
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2025 Japanese MotoGP, Motegi: Friday Practice - LIVE
Live updates from Friday practice at 2025 Japanese MotoGP at Motegi, where Marc Marquez has his first chance to win this year’s world championship.
The Ducati Lenovo rider returns to Japan, scene of past title glory with Honda, holding a 182-point lead over younger brother Alex.
While Marc Marquez can’t be crowned champion in the Sprint race, he will wrap up his first MotoGP title since 2019 if he holds an advantage of at least 185 points over Alex on Sunday afternoon.
Marc and Alex (Gresini Ducati) are now the only riders still in world championship contention, with Francesco Bagnaia slipping 275 points behind his team-mate.
The Italian – winner of last year’s Japanese Grand Prix - now has a fight on his hands to hold third place, with Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi just eight points adrift after a brilliant 1-2 (Sprint-GP) weekend in Misano.
Meanwhile, KTM's Pedro Acosta could be another contender after taking pole position as a rookie at the 2024 event, before crashing out of both races.
26 Sep 2025
03:37
Francesco Bagnaia leads FP1 from Jorge Martin, while Aprilia team-mate Marco Bezzecchi has an RS-GP repaired in time to take part in the end-of-session practice starts.
03:36
Japanese MotoGP: FP1 Results
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03:30
Enea Bastianini crashes at Turn 10 - then Franco Morbidelli and Jack Miller fall moments apart at Turn 5. Morbidelli had just switched to the hard front.
03:29
Fabio di Giannantonio takes new hard front and medium rear tyres to fourth.
03:28
Martin now rises to 2nd, 0.093s behind Bagnaia.
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03:27
Meanwhile, team-mate Jorge Martin is the first rider to fit the favoured medium front tyre plus a new soft and jumps up to 3rd.
Martin has been struggling for time-attack qualifying speed, explaining the move.
03:26
Marco Bezzecchi is still watching his team work on his damaged RS-GPs in the Aprilia pits. It doesn't look like he'll be back out this morning and therefore also miss the practice starts.
03:24
Into the final 7mins and KTM's Pedro Acosta heads out on a new hard front tyre, after using the soft until now.
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03:22
Luca Marini is on a charge, climbing to 3rd place behind the Ducati Lenovo duo. Marini is on a new hard front and old medium rear tyre.
03:21
Bagnaia is back out and setting red sectors... The Italian replaces Marc Marquez at the top by 0.102s.
Meanwhile, rookie Somkiat Chantra is turning heads on new tyres, rising to 5th. The LCR rider is expected to join Jake Dixon in Honda's WorldSBK team next year.
03:16
15mins to go:
- Marc Marquez
- Francesco Bagnaia
- Franco Morbidelli
- Pedro Acosta
- Luca Marini
- Marco Bezzecchi
- Joan Mir
- Raul Fernandez
- Alex Marquez
- Fabio Quartararo
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03:16
Bezzecchi is back in the Aprilia pits but must now wait for a bike to be ready.
03:15
Marc Marquez hits the top on his 13th lap, moving 0.008s ahead of team-mate Bagnaia.
Bagnaia is back in the pit box, looking animated as he gives feedback to his crew.
03:13
Bezzecchi falls again! This time at Turn 5, another front-end accident on the soft front. The Italian walks away unharmed but will need to hope one of his bikes can be salvaged to continue the session.
Is that a warning that the soft front is too soft? Team-mate Jorge Martin is on the hard front.
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03:12
Pedro Acosta, on pole last season, jumps up to 4th.
03:07
Marc Marquez has swapped to the hard front tyre, as used by team-mate Bagnaia to go fastest, for his second run.
03:06
25mins to go and Marco Bezzecchi returns on his second Aprilia. He's currently 4th despite missing out on track time.
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03:04
Alex Marquez, the only rider who can delay brother Marc's title celebrations, is currently 17th for Gresini Ducati (+0.8s).
03:01
Marco Bezzecchi jogs into the back of the Aprilia garage and prepares to return on his spare RS-GP.
03:01
15mins gone:
- Francesco Bagnaia
- Franco Morbidelli
- Marc Marquez
- Marco Bezzecchi
- Joan Mir
- Raul Fernandez
- Luca Marini
- Fabio Quartararo
- Pedro Acosta
- Jorge Martin
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02:59
Meanwhile, Marc Marquez is now up to third, with VR46's Franco Morbidelli splitting the red machines.
Bagnaia is on the hard front, with the next five riders on the soft (with the medium rear).
02:57
Bagnaia, who Sky Italy reports is using a "2024 version fork and swingarm" on his GP25, is now fastest. A promising early start for last year's double winner.
02:55
Two crashes in quick succession: Raul Fernandez and Marco Bezzecchi. Fernandez at Turn 7 and Bezzecchi at the end of the back straight, after losing the front on the soft tyre. Both OK.
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02:53
Dorna's pit lane reporter Jack Appleyard says Johann Zarco now finally has the new parts available to the HRC team for several events. Wild-card Takaaki Nakagami has a larger 'salad box' on the back of his bike,
