Ai Ogura smashes lap record in Brno MotoGP Practice, Marc Marquez crashes again
Ai Ogura led Friday’s second practice at the Czech GP as Marc Marquez crashed again
Ai Ogura led an Aprilia 1-2 in Practice at the MotoGP Czech Grand Prix with a new lap record, as Marc Marquez crashed again and Jorge Martin missed a Q2 place.
Lap times tumbled underneath the previous lap record at Brno on Friday afternoon in the hour-long Practice, with the benchmark moved to the 1m51s for the first time.
Marc Marquez brushed off an early crash to set the first-ever 1m51s lap of Brno on a MotoGP bike, but would ultimately end up fifth at the chequered flag.
Four other riders bettered his lap in the closing moments, with Trackhouse Aprilia’s Ai Ogura the pacesetter on a 1m51.735s.
He beat championship leader Marco Bezzecchi on the factory team Aprilia by 0.091s, with Fabio Di Giannantonio completing the top three for the VR46 Ducati team.
Jorge Martin, now 20 points adrift in the standings and already carrying a double long lap penalty for Sunday’s race, failed to get into the Q2 qualifying places on Friday afternoon.
He was 11th at the end of the session, 0.630s off the pace set by Ogura.
Bezzecchi had set the initial pace inside the first 10 minutes of running in Practice at a 1m53.080s, while Marc Marquez crashed at Turn 11, marking his second fall of the day.
KTM’s Pedro Acosta set a new reference lap with 37 minutes remaining on a fresh medium rear tyre, posting a 1m53.002s.
This was instantly beaten by Raul Fernandez on the Trackhouse Aprilia on a new soft rear with a 1m52.862s.
Ogura then went fastest on a new soft with a 1m52.718s, before Bezzecchi set a new lap record with a 1m52.275s.
Acosta moved the lap record to a 1m52.228s with just under 20 minutes remaining, before suffering a technical issue on his RC16.
A few moments later, Marc Marquez smashed the field with a 1m51.988s, but top spot would ultimately go to Ogura on a 1m51.735s.
Bezzecchi found a 1m51.826s late on, while Fabio Di Giannantonio produced a 1m51.942s.
Pecco Bagnaia was fourth on the leading factory team Ducati with a 1m51.983s, with team-mate Marc Marquez in fifth.
Acosta was sixth at the chequered flag ahead of Honda’s Joan Mir, who survived a late fall to hold onto a direct Q2 spot.
Diogo Moreira was eighth on the LCR Honda, while Gresini Ducati’s Fermin Aldeguer and Fernandez rounded out the top 10.
Martin will face a tough Q1 session on Saturday morning that will feature the likes of Maverick Vinales, Luca Marini and Fabio Quartararo.
Cal Crutchlow was the only other rider to crash in the session.
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