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

10:19

Lap record for Marc Marquez on his first lap - 1m45.136s, about 0.4s better than Bezzecchi manages yesterday and it puts him almost 0.5s clear of the field at the moment in Q2.

10:15

Q2 start

Pit lane is open in Aragon and the riders are heading out of pit lane for their first runs of Q2.

10:10

Q2 riders

Q2 coming up in around five minutes. Here are your contenders for pole position at Aragon:

Marco Bezzecchi
Marc Marquez
Raul Fernandez
Pedro Acosta
Francesco Bagnaia
Fabio Di Giannantonio
Alex Marquez
Diogo Moreira
Franco Morbidelli
Jorge Martin
Johann Zarco
Fermin Aldeguer

10:07

Bagnaia/Moreira advance

Q1 concludes with Bagnaia and Moreira advancing to Q2.

The order behind them is:

Miller, Binder, Mir

Bastianini, Quartararo, Marini

Rins, Espargaro, Razgatlioglu

Savadori