Marc Marquez Tops Friday Practice In Argentina

Bagnaia narrowly dodges Q1 start after late crash in tightly contested session

Marc Marquez set the fastest time in Friday’s practice sessions at the 2025 Gran Premio YPF Energía de Argentina, maintaining his strong form ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) and Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini MotoGP) with Ducati once again dominating at the front.

Marquez was consistently quick throughout the day, with Johann Zarco (LCR Honda Castrol) and Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) among the riders pushing to keep up. Zarco’s momentum was interrupted by a crash at Turn 2, while Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) also had a tough session, sliding into the gravel at the same corner in the closing minutes. His crash left him in a difficult position, needing to rely on his earlier lap times to secure a direct spot in Q2.

Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) briefly climbed to second place with a late push, coming within 0.088s of Marquez’s time. Shortly after, Bezzecchi set a new lap record, but it didn’t last long—Marquez responded with a 1:37.438 to reclaim the top spot. Meanwhile, Bagnaia found himself on the edge of the top 10, at risk of missing out on automatic Q2 qualification.

In the final moments of the session, Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) improved his time to move into the top positions, pushing Bagnaia down to seventh. Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) also put in a strong lap to secure himself a place in Q2, while Bagnaia narrowly avoided dropping into Q1.

Jack Miller finished the session in 14th and will be forced to try to make his way through Q1 tomorrow.

While Marquez remains in command, the times at the top are close enough to give rivals some hope heading into tomorrow’s qualifying and sprint.

MotoGP Friday Practice Results