2025 Catalan MotoGP: Pedro Acosta leads Johann Zarco in FP1

KTM’s Pedro Acosta led LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco in the opening practice for the 2025 MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix, with Marc Marquez completing the top three for Ducati.

MotoGP’s third visit to Spain in 2025 sees it return to its home event at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

And Pedro Acosta delighted the home crowd early on Friday morning as he guided his factory KTM to a 1m38.979s in the 45-minutes FP1 session.

In what proved to be a session of limited action due to most sticking with used tyres, Acosta’s assault on the top of the timesheets came in the dying stages after a late switch to fresh rubber.

He headed LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco, who comes to Barcelona celebrating a new HRC contract to the end of 2027.

Runaway championship leader Marc Marquez - who is 175 points clear of the field - completed the top three on Friday morning, but didn’t fit fresh rubber for a late time attack.

After the first 10 minutes of running, Marquez took his factory Ducati to a 1m39.198s to set the benchmark ahead of Gresini Ducati’s Alex Marquez.

That would prove to be the best lap of the session until there were just under two minutes to go, when Acosta fired in a 1m38.979s on a fresh medium rear.

He cemented top spot on his final tour with an identical lap time to lead Zarco by 0.095s.

Marc Marquez put 19 laps on a medium rear tyre, with his final lap an impressive 1m40.0s.

Maverick Vinales was fourth as he begins his return from injury with the Tech3 KTM team.

He fitted a fresh medium rear to produce a 1m39.368s to move ahead of Alex Marquez, who did not switch tyres.

Luca Marini on the factory Honda was sixth on a new medium rear, with KTM’s Brad Binder, Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi and Honda wildcard Aleix Espargaro all doing the same to fill out the top nine.

Tech3’s Enea Bastianini brushed off a late technical issues to complete the top 10 on an 11-lap-old medium rear.

Jack Miller was the leading Yamaha in 11th, but did suffer a crash early on at Turn 10.

Pecco Bagnaia encountered issues on one of his GP25 Ducatis and was 23rd at the end of the session, 1.556s off the pace.

However, the double world champion did not change tyres and showed no signs of frustrations at his machine like he did two weeks ago in Hungary.

Full 2025 MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix FP1 results