Marco Bezzecchi , 2026 MotoGP Aragon Grand Prix. Credit: Gold and Goose.
© Gold & Goose

Aragon MotoGP LIVE: Sprint reaction after Marc Marquez wins at MotorLand

Live coverage of the Sprint race at the 2026 Aragon MotoGP from MotorLand Aragon.

Live updates from the qualifying session at the 2026 Aragon MotoGP at MotorLand. Qualifying is due to start at 10:50 local time, with the Sprint scheduled for this afternoon at 15:00.

Key Moments

Marc Marquez wins Aragon Sprint after crucial early move on Bezzecchi
Quartararo's Yamaha suffers dramatic technical issue in Sprint
Bezzecchi secures Aragon pole ahead of Marc & Alex Marquez

Marco Bezzecchi entered Saturday at Aragon as the fastest rider in the circuit's history, having broken the outright lap record yesterday with a lap that put him top of Practice by 0.010 seconds ahead of Alex Marquez. Despite his speed, Bezzecchi ended Friday sure that Marc Marquez had more margin to improve, but in qualifying it was still the Italian who came out on top and who became the first rider to lap Aragon in the 1m44s bracket.

Marquez himself was 0.038 seconds behind Bezzecchi in third place in Practice, and insisted afterwards that he was in "attack mode". After qualifying, he admitted that "sometimes you cannot do anything" in response to another rider's pace.

As for Alex Marquez, he was content with his performance and potential through three-quarters of the lap, but felt he needed to improve in the third sector where he was losing time compared to his brother and the well-turning Aprilias. He clearly found a step today in qualifying, finishing third, although he was still weaker in the third sector compared to Marc Marquez and Bezzecchi.

Fermin Aldeguer is returning from injury this weekend and qualified 12th this morning, but the more impressive performance, perhaps, came from Johann Zarco. He was ninth in qualifying today, but even after finishing 10th on the first day of his return he spoke afterwards of the intensity of the day, while Lucio Cecchinello praised his rider's performance as an example of what humans can achieve with the right motivation.

The strength of Aprilia at Aragon is something that perhaps makes sense given the bike's potential in long corners, but the speed of the RS-GP at MotorLand this year came as something of a surprise to Jorge Martin on Friday, who felt that the track had been one of Aprilia's worst in the past. The championship leader was fifth this morning and the slowest of the three Aprilias in Q2.

Only three full-time Aprilia riders are in Aragon, of course, after a left hand injury for Ai Ogura forced him out, with Lorenzo Savadori stepping in as replacement.

On the other side, Aragon had been decent for KTM in previous years, and for Pedro Acosta who was in the top-five in both races in 2025, but the Spaniard felt that a change in the tyre allocation compared to last year had affected his front confidence. Qualifying was solid enough for Acosta, though, and he will start sixth this afternoon.

Alex Whitworth

29 Aug 2026

13:57

No changes on the rear tyres at the front, the factory Aprilias being the only ones to choose the soft according to live timing. We're within five minutes of the start now, so the window to change tyres has closed.

13:52

Tyres

That high track temperature is adding to something of a split on the grid in terms of tyres.

The vast majority of the top-10 are on the medium-compound rear tyre at the moment, although most towards the back of the grid are on the soft.

Marco Bezzecchi currently has the soft rear on pole position, as does Jorge Martin in fifth, but everyone else on the front three rows are with the medium rear presently. Zarco, Moreira, and Aldeguer on row four all also have the soft.

Everyone using the medium-compound front tyre.

13:49

Conditions

Clear skies and sunny weather for the Sprint. Currently with 29C ambient temperature and 52C track temperature.

13:41

Sighting lap

Pit lane is open in Aragon and the riders are heading out on their sighting lap.

20 minutes until lights out.

13:33

Grid

Here's your starting order for today's Sprint, with Marco Bezzecchi on pole.

Johann Zarco has a penalty to serve this weekend but that will be for the grand prix tomorrow.

1	Marco Bezzecchi	ITA	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia RS-GP
2	Marc Marquez	ESP	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati GP26
3	Alex Marquez	ESP	Gresini Racing	Ducati GP26
4	Raul Fernandez	ESP	Trackhouse Racing	Aprilia RS-GP
5	Jorge Martin	ESP	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia RS-GP
6	Pedro Acosta	ESP	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM RC16
7	Fabio Di Giannantonio	ITA	Pertamina Enduro VR46	Ducati GP26
8	Francesco Bagnaia	ITA	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati GP26
9	Johann Zarco	FRA	Castrol Honda LCR	Honda RC213V
10	Diogo Moreira	BRA	Pro Honda LCR	Honda RC213V
11	Fermin Aldeguer	ESP	Gresini Racing	Ducati GP25
12	Franco Morbidelli	ITA	Pertamina Enduro VR46	Ducati GP25
13	Jack Miller	AUS	Prima Alpine Pramac Yamaha	Yamaha YZR-M1
14	Brad Binder	RSA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM RC16
15	Joan Mir	ESP	Honda HRC Castrol	Honda RC213V
16	Enea Bastianini	ITA	Red Bull KTM Tech3	KTM RC16
17	Fabio Quartararo	FRA	Monster Energy Yamaha	Yamaha YZR-M1
18	Luca Marini	ITA	Honda HRC Castrol	Honda RC213V
19	Alex Rins	ESP	Monster Energy Yamaha	Yamaha YZR-M1
20	Pol Espargaro	ESP	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM RC16
21	Toprak Razgatlioglu	TUR	Prima Alpine Pramac Yamaha	Yamaha YZR-M1
22	Lorenzo Savadori	ITA	Aprilia Racing	Aprilia RS-GP

13:22

Sprint

Welcome back to live coverage of today's MotoGP action from Aragon, where the Sprint is due to get underway in just under 40 minutes at 15:00 local time.