2025 Austrian MotoGP: Marc Marquez fastest in red-flagged Practice

MotoGP championship leader Marc Marquez completed a Friday clean sweep after topping a Practice session interrupted by a lengthy red flag.

Having topped the opening session of the day at the Red Bull Ring on Friday morning, the factory Ducati rider carried that form forward.

Marc Marquez led the hour-long Practice by 0.228s from KTM’s Pedro Acosta, while Pecco Bagnaia completed the top three.

The session was stopped with 26 minutes and 54 seconds left on the clock following an odd crash for Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo at Turn 6.

The 2021 world champion lost the rear suddenly going through the left-hander, with his M1 going straight to the air fence and puncturing it.

Quartararo hobbled away, with Pramac counterpart Miguel Oliveira suffering a near-identical incident at the same place seconds later.

The red flag was flown to repair the damaged air fence, but the stoppage was extended when fluid was found on circuit at Turn 6.

The culprit may have been Pramac’s Jack Miller, who just before the crashes for his Yamaha stablemate was seen with smoke coming out of the back of his M1 from an apparent ride height device problem.

Pramac, however, claims it found no fluid on Miller’s bike when it was brought back to the pits.

At the time of the stoppage, KTM’s Acosta was leading the way with a 1m29.129s, set on a fresh soft tyre prior to the red flag.

When the session got back underway after a delay of around 20 minutes, Trackhouse Aprilia rider Ai Ogura would shoot to the top of the order on fresh rubber with a 1m28.877s.

LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco then took over with a 1m28.765s, before Acosta found a 1m28.345s with 10 minutes to go using a two from Marc Marquez.

With just a couple of minutes left on the clock, Marquez stretched his legs and produced a 1m28.117s on his factory Ducati to end the day fastest of all.

Behind the top three came second-placed in the championship Alex Marquez, who was 0.318s off the pace on his Gresini Ducati.

Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez rounded out the top five to be the only Aprilia directly into Q2, after his stablemates struggled in the closing stages.

Joan Mir was sixth on the leading Honda ahead of VR46 Ducati’s Franco Morbidelli, Zarco, Gresini Ducati’s Fermin Aldeguer and KTM’s Brad Binder.

Ogura was shuffled down to 12th after his stint leading the way, placing between Tech3 KTM’s Enea Bastianini and Honda’s Luca Marini.

Quartararo was 14th and the leading Yamaha after his crash, while VR46’s Fabio Di Giannantonio was a disappointing 15th.

Reigning champion Jorge Martin had only one bike to use for the session after crashing on his out-lap at the start of Practice.

He could do no more than 16th, with team-mate Marco Bezzecchi struggling to 19th.

Tech3’s Maverick Vinales didn’t return after the red flag, with his participation in the rest of the weekend in some doubt.

Full 2025 MotoGP Austrian Grand Prix Practice results