What a machine. Under the blazing lights of Lusail, Fabio Di Giannantonio absolutely owned Friday evening, dropping a stunning 1’50.406 to smash the lap record and lock down P1 in Practice. That blistering effort left him nearly a tenth and a half clear of his closest challenger. That rival was none other than Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team), who had to deal with a dramatic chain failure on his GP26 Desmosedici with just under 30 minutes remaining. Far from ideal, but the #93 shrugged it off to hustle his way back up the order.
Now, let us talk about Aprilia. They came out swinging hard in Qatar, with Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) leading the Noale brand's charge into third place overall. The Italian looked dialed in right from the very first lap and improved immediately on his second run. Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing), returning to action after sitting out most of the Malaysian GP, fought his way into the top ten and ultimately delivered a crucial lap to climb up to fifth. They were joined in the provisional Q2 spots by Ai Ogura (SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team) and teammate Raul Fernandez, making it a brilliant day for the factory.
Over in the Ducati corner, Di Giannantonio steadily built his momentum, dropping a 1’51.174 that was more than 1.5s quicker than his FP1 pace before finding that record-breaking flyer at the very end. Marquez endured an anxious moment when his chain sprung off, forcing him to trundle down the pitlane. But the delay was short-lived. He hit the track with 18 minutes left on the clock and immediately set the first 1’50 of the weekend with a 1’50.925. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) backed up his teammate by securing fourth place.
As the timing screens lit up with red sectors in the closing stages, the top ten sorting itself out for Saturday was a thing of beauty. Di Giannantonio sat untouchable at the summit with that 1’50.406 lap record. Marquez gave it everything on a final flying lap but fell 0.142s short of the top spot. Bezzecchi held firm in third, Bagnaia fourth, and Fernandez rounded out the top five. Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3) took sixth, followed by Martin, Johann Zarco (Castrol Honda LCR), a late charge from Ogura in ninth, and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) capping off the top ten just over a second away from the pacesetter.
That leaves some serious heavy hitters facing the scrap through Q1. Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) endured a Friday to forget, finishing down in 14th after being edged out by Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) in 11th, 2025 Lusail podium finisher Franco Morbidelli (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team), and Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol). Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM Tech3) also hit trouble with a technical issue on his way to 15th, trailed by Iker Lecuona (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP), Diogo Moreira (Pro Honda LCR), and Jake Dixon (Honda HRC Castrol). With the entire field covered by less than two seconds, Sprint Saturday from Lusail is going to be absolute carnage.
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