2025 Japanese MotoGP, Motegi: Friday Practice + reaction as it happened

Half an hour to go in PR, the top 10 currently is: 

1. Fabio Quartararo
2. Marco Bezzecchi
3. Pedro Acosta
4. Fabio Di Giannantonio
5. Fermin Aldeguer
6. Johann Zarco
7. Joan Mir
8. Franco Morbidelli
9. Miguel Oliveira
10. Luca Marini

As mentioned earlier, the end to the Moto2 session saw a number of crashes and yellow flags. So, an early banker now is a smart move to give yourself a bit of a buffer. 

Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo is now top with a 1m44.044s, also on a new soft rear. 

Bezzecchi jumps up to second on his Aprilia, also on a fresh soft rear. Seems like we're getting quite a few doing early time attacks with over half an hour to go.

VR46's Fabio Di Giannantonio goes top on a 1m44.294s on a fresh soft rear. 

Despite being a reasonably long lap here at Motegi, it's pretty tight out there. Under a second covers the entire field. 

Marc Marquez posts a 1m44.417s to jump up to ninth from 21st. 

This is not a hugely comfortable looking lap that Marc Marquez is on right now. Much like earlier, it doesn't look like he's able to get that GP25 stopped well. 

Meanwhile, Marc Marquez heads back out. There was no frantic action his garage, so hard to say what's troubling him so far. 

Not a lot going for Alex Marquez right now. He's down in 17th.

Oh no, Marc's come straight back again. 

Marc Marquez has taken his helmet off and has head out of the back of the Ducati garage. Strange afternoon this so far for the factory squad. 

Bagnaia is back in again having not put a hugely quick lap on the board. He looks quite animated debriefing with his crew. 

10 minutes of PR done, the top 10 is:

1. Aldeguer
2. Zarco
3. Mir
4. Oliveira
5. Acosta
6. Morbidelli
7. Quartararo
8. Binder
9. Nakagami
10. Marini

Bagnaia is back on track after that early issue. Not confirmation yet as to what the problem may have been. 

Fermin Aldeguer is fastest now on the Gresini Ducati with a 1m44.423s. 

Marc Marquez is back in the Ducati garage having just run on at Turn 3 a moment ago. Not a super strong start for the factory duo so far.

Zarco completes another flying lap and improves to a 1m44.429s. The Frenchman is a bit of a hero in these parts coming into the Japanese Grand Prix having helped Honda to a Suzuka 8 Hours win earlier this year. 

Johann Zarco has set the early pace on the LCR Honda with a 1m44.769s. 

Shot of the Ducati garage shows Bagnaia to be not very happy. 

Raul Fernandez is being helped back to pitlane via the service road for some reason. 

Bagnaia has come straight back into pitlane after a slow outlap. 

Bagnaia is the last out on track at the start of this session. 

Ducati is very confident it has been able to get the real Bagnaia back. Unfortunately, we're not really going to know that till we get to Indonesia. 

Motegi is a circuit where the bigger 355mm brake discs are mandated, and using those has helped Bagnaia at stages this year. But a good afternoon here will still be encouraging. 

Unsurprisingly, Marco Bezzecchi is one of the first out given his lack of running in FP1. 

But don't despair if you are a fan of the Aprilia rider. It's not been unusual for him of late to have a bad Friday and then end up fighting for the podium come the races.