Marco Bezzecchi beats Alex Marquez in Aragon MotoGP Practice
Marco Bezzecchi led Practice at the Aragon Grand Prix with a new lap record
Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi set a new lap record to snatch top spot from Alex Marquez by 0.010 seconds in Practice at the MotoGP Aragon Grand Prix.
Since joining Ducati, Marc Marquez hasn’t been beaten in a session at Aragon he actually took part in.
With just under 10 minutes to go in Practice, Marquez looked like he would continue that trend after beating his old lap record.
But Marco Bezzecchi found a 1m45.455s in the final two minutes of the session to take over top spot, while Alex Marquez slotted into second late on.
Marc Marquez completed the top three, though Ducati team-mate Pecco Bagnaia will go through Q1 after finishing 13th.
After 10 minutes of running in the hour-long Practice, reigning world champion Marc Marquez sat top of the pile with a 1m46.320s.
This stood as the reference lap until just under 15 minutes to go, when Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer produced a 1m45.909s on his first flying lap on fresh soft rubber.
Marquez posted a 1m45.493s to blast the existing lap record, though this would ultimately not be enough to see him see out Practice fastest of all.
He ended up 0.038s off the pace of Bezzecchi, with Alex Marquez just 0.010s from snatching top spot away from the Aprilia rider.
Fabio Di Giannantonio was fourth on the VR46-run Ducati, with Aldeguer holding onto fifth on his return from injury.
Raul Fernandez was the next of the Aprilias in sixth on the Trackhouse-run RS-GP, with championship leader Jorge Martin seventh.
Pedro Acosta is the only KTM in Q2 at the moment, having ended Practice in eighth ahead of VR46’s Franco Morbidelli.
LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco impressed with a late 1m46.298s to steal the final place inside the top 10, as he makes his return since his horror crash at the Catalan Grand Prix.
Yamaha failed to get a rider directly into Q2, with Fabio Quartararo its leading representative in 14th.
He will join the likes of Luca Marini, Bagnaia and Enea Bastianini in the Q1 battle on Saturday morning at Aragon.
