Misano MotoGP LIVE: Reaction after Marco Bezzecchi tops Practice

Live coverage of the Friday practice sessions at the 2026 Misano MotoGP at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli. FP1 is due to start at 10:45 local time, with Practice coming up this afternoon at 15:00.

Key Moments

• Bagnaia only 19th in Practice at a track he's won at twice
• Bezzecchi tops Practice as Martin squeezes into Q2
• Alex Marquez the first rider into the 1m30s
• Late Marc Marquez lap sees him top of FP1 ahead of Bezzecchi, Fernandez

Jorge Martin arrives in San Marino this weekend for his final Italian race with Aprilia leading the riders' standings by 19 points over Marc Marquez. The Spaniard is a one-time MotoGP winner at Misano, that coming back in 2023 en route to second in the championship. Speaking in the press conference yesterday, Martin said he feels he has not been the clear favourite for the 2026 title at any point this season, following on from two fifths at Aragon two weeks ago, but started reasonably this morning, finishing FP1 inside the top-10 in eighth.

That 2023 Misano weekend, Marco Bezzecchi was second to Martin in both races, and this year arrives as the Aprilia rider with the best form of late, having finished third in the four races since the summer break. Bezzecchi was also strong at Misano last year, winning the Sprint after a crash for Marc Marquez and finishing second to the eventual 2025 champion on Sunday. Bezzecchi remains winless in 2026 since Mugello, but was a strong second in FP1 and comes to Misano a week after watching in-person Andrea Kimi Antonelli win the F1 Italian Grand Prix at Monza from 19th on the grid last weekend.

Marquez himself is one of MotoGP's most successful riders at Misano, having won here six times. The Spaniard's right arm has been the topic of conversation in recent weeks after struggling at the right-handed Silverstone and dominating at the left-handed MotorLand, and then posting a photo on social media highlighting the lack of muscle mass on his right arm compared to his left. The nine-time world champion spoke yesterday about his arm, saying he "wasn't angry" about footage released in a Ducati video after Silverstone in which he was explaining to his team about the lack of strength he had in the weaker arm.

Misano is very much a right-handed circuit, but the 2025 winner was fastest in FP1 this morning by 0.060 seconds from Bezzecchi.

On the other side of the factory Ducati box, Francesco Bagnaia has his final Italian race with the team this weekend, Misano being a circuit where he's won twice in MotoGP, although not since 2022. The Italian said yesterday that he needs "old things" on his Ducati to get himself out of his current performance slump, although FP1 was not so promising - 17th for the two-time champion.

While it's a final Misano race with Ducati for Bagnaia, it's a final home grand prix full stop for Franco Morbidelli, whose departure from MotoGP was confirmed earlier this week when the VR46 team announced Nicolo Bulega for the 2027 season. It wasn't a fantastic start for the 2020 San Marino winner, who was 13th in FP1.

It's also a final Misano race for Alex Rins, who announced yesterday that he will stop racing motorcycles after the 2026 season, leading to speculation he could be on his way to four-wheel racing in 2027, although nothing is yet confirmed.

Brad Binder will also have his final Misano MotoGP this weekend after the confirmation of his move to WorldSBK with BMW on Wednesday; and the same is true for Jack Miller, who was announced as a Yamaha WorldSBK rider for 2027 earlier this week as well. Miller's weekend started especially badly, crashing at turn four on his out-lap and finishing down in 18th.