MotoGP Assen LIVE: Friday Practice reaction after Bezzecchi and Aprilia dominate

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

• Bezzecchi tops Practice as Aprilia look back to their best
• Alex Marquez crashes heavily at turn 11, brings out the red flags
• Ogura leads from Bezzecchi and Marquez after first hot laps
• Bezzecchi tops FP1 ahead of Bagnaia, Martin after Marquez crash

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. Bezzecchi ended FP1 at the top of the times this morning, but was in trouble with the stewards again.

The Italian, who was second at Assen last year, now leads the championship by eight points over Jorge Martin, who was third-fastest this morning. 

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 adrift having dropped only five points in the last two rounds. Marquez crashed in FP1 this morning and finished 10th.

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, who is wildcarding this weekend, 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. 

Aki Ajo said during FP1 that KTM understands what has been happening, and it was revealed by the MotoGP world feed broadcast that the RC16's engine has been running at a reduced performance level since Mugello.

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. The Italian was an encouraging second this morning, setting his time late on but not using fresh tyres to do it.