Assen MotoGP LIVE: Friday practice updates as Marc Marquez crashes in FP1

Live coverage of the Friday practice sessions at the 2026 Assen MotoGP. FP1 is due to start at 10:50 local time this morning, with Practice coming up this afternoon at 15:00.

Key Moments

• Marquez crashes at final chicane as Bezzecchi goes fastest
• Di Giannantonio leads after 15 minutes as Aprilia shows good early speed
• FP1 starts under clear skies and warm weather at Assen

It's set to be a very hot Assen this weekend with temperatures set to rise into the high-30C range this afternoon, although by Sunday the European heat wave is due to have broken and more normal conditions will prevail, perhaps even some rain.

Marco Bezzecchi arrives in the Netherlands with the championship lead, despite not scoring a point in Brno after he crashed out of the Sprint and was suspended for the remainder of the weekend after hitting a marshal. The Italian spoke to the media yesterday and admitted his fault, saying the penalty he received for his action in Brno was the correct one.

The Italian, who was second at Assen last year, now leads the championship by eight points over Jorge Martin, who was ninth in Brno last Sunday after taking two long lap penalties for the Balaton turn one crash. Closing in on the two Aprilias is Marc Marquez, who was 102 points behind after the Italian GP, where Bezzecchi and Martin went 1-2, but is now only 40 points behind having dropped only five points in the last two rounds.

Despite the closing Ducati threat, Martin does not think Assen is a "must-win" race for Aprilia, while Marquez's back-to-back wins in Hungary and Czechia came just before his new two-year contract with Ducati was announced earlier this week. The Spaniard said yesterday that a one-year option was discussed between he and Ducati, but the decision was taken to opt for two years for the benefit of the project as MotoGP heads into the beginning of its 850cc era.

Marquez was one of a few riders to take part in the 850cc test at Brno on Monday, Augusto Fernandez being another. The Yamaha test rider reckons the new bikes, and tyres, will provide more entertaining racing next year.

Pedro Acosta also took part in the test for KTM, but it was announced only two days later that he will be joining Ducati with Marquez in 2027, a move which the Spaniard says is the biggest challenge of his career. In his final KTM year, Acosta is being his with reliability issues frequently, including three times in Czechia where he retired on the final lap through a technical problem, which Acosta does not expect to be fixed before Germany in July.

Acosta's spot at Ducati is being opened to him by the move of Francesco Bagnaia to Aprilia on a new four-year deal that has the Italian "super-excited" as prepares to leave Ducati for the first time in his MotoGP career.