Reigning World Champion Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) waited until the very dying moments of a windy, sunny, and warm Friday morning at Phillip Island to snatch the top spot. The #93 machine put down a stunning 1:27.985 to eclipse his rivals, leaving everyone else scrambling behind him.
Now, securing that time meant denying Raul Fernandez (SuperFile Trackhouse MotoGP Team)—the 2025 Australian Grand Prix winner—what would have been a brilliant FP1 session. Fernandez had actually suffered an early crash at Turn 6 and was dealing with already injured fingers, yet he still managed to secure second place overall, finishing just 0.048s shy of the reigning champion.
Meanwhile, home crowd favourite Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) put on an absolute show for the grandstands, kicking off his farewell Australian Grand Prix weekend with a classy P3. But it was far from an easy ride around the Island. In the closing five minutes, moments after launching himself to the provisional fastest lap of the session, Miller lost the front through the Doohan Corner at Turn 1. The resulting crash happened at over +150km/h and brought a premature end to his morning, though thankfully, the Aussie was back up on his feet.
Behind the top three, Indonesian Grand Prix winner Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) slotted into P4, sitting 0.293s adrift of the leading Ducati. Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) rounded out the top five for the session, followed immediately by Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) in P6 and World Championship leader Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) in P7. It was an astonishingly tight field to kick off the weekend, with the entire top seven covered by a mere 0.453s.
The action at Phillip Island continues with MotoGP Practice scheduled for 15:00 local time (UTC +10).
