Here is the thing about MotorLand Aragon: you walk in expecting one thing, and the machines just rewrite the script entirely. An electric Friday saw the lap record shattered on three separate occasions as Marco Bezzecchi, Alex Marquez, and Marc Marquez traded paint in the closing stages. When the smoke cleared, it was a stunning 1’45.455 from Bezzecchi that stood unbeatable, ruining what looked like the perfect homecoming for the local Marquez brothers.
For most of the session, Marc Marquez was as majestic as ever on his Ducati Lenovo Team machine. He led the way throughout, holding the advantage over title rival Bezzecchi while Fabio Di Giannantonio sat in P3 after bouncing back from an earlier crash in FP1. But that was merely the calm before a ferocious storm in the final fifteen minutes.
Time attack mode engaged, and the limits vanished instantly. Fermin Aldeguer was the first to blink, briefly pinching P1 from the #93 before Jorge Martin, Bezzecchi, and Pedro Acosta all fired in rapid laps. Further down the order, Jack Miller endured a far from ideal start to his time attack when the Australian crashed his Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP machine at Turn 2. Thankfully, he was straight on his feet and rushing back to the box to grab his second bike.
Then came the fireworks. Marc Marquez smashed his own lap record with a scorching 1’45.493, flexing his seven previous wins at the venue. Brother Alex Marquez clawed close to the old record on his opening try, but as the final five minutes ticked down, he remained 0.273 seconds adrift of the top spot. Bezzecchi had other ideas, putting together a sublime lap to snatch P1 away from the home hero by a razor-thin 0.038 seconds. Alex Marquez gave it everything on his final effort, managing to vault past brother Marc into second, but unable to dislodge Bezzecchi from the summit.
Behind the frantic top three, Di Giannantonio resisted a late charge from Aldeguer, with Raul Fernandez rounding out the top six. Martin settled for seventh after briefly running second, sitting one place ahead of Acosta. Franco Morbidelli took a solid ninth, while Johann Zarco delivered one of the rides of the day, claiming tenth and a direct Q2 pass on his return to action following a three-month layoff.
Others were not so fortunate. Diogo Moreira missed out on the top ten by a tiny 0.010 seconds to his teammate Zarco in 11th, while double World Champion Francesco Bagnaia made a mistake on his final flying lap to land down in P13. He finished just ahead of 2021 World Champion Fabio Quartararo, who salvaged top Yamaha honours on the day.
