After a three-week hiatus, MotoGP is finally back at Motorland Aragón. This is the 13th race weekend of the premier class season. Aragón is one of many races held in Spain and the crowd certainly come out to watch their favourite riders.
There are a few changes for this weekend in MotoGP. Pol Espargaro fills in for Maverick Viñales at the KTM Tech3 team as he continues his recovery.
Lorenzo Savadori fills in for Ai Ogura as he recovers from an operation on his left thumb. This was to fix a previous injury. Davide Brivio, Trackhouse Team Prinicpal, explained it was a metacarpal fracture that had not healed before being reviewed this week. His goal is to get to the San Marino Grand Prix in two weeks time.
Fermín Aldeguer and Johann Zarco returned this weekend and deemed fit in a review after Free Practice 1. The Frenchman was one of the first to be confirmed to stay at LCR Honda in 2027. But this weekend Aldeguer was confirmed to be racing for VR46 Racing next season. This makes him the first Spanish rider to race for the team.
Free Practice 1
Riders wasted no time in getting out to get a first taste of what Aragón had to offer this weekend.
After the first few laps, Marco Bezzecchi showed his strength after a physically painful Silverstone weekend. He left the weekend with two third-place finishes and presented some good speed at the start of the session. This weekend could work even more in his favour as Aprilia have updated their seat aero into Aragon. Marc Márquez bounced back this weekend as he also landed some great starting laps alongside Pedro Acosta and Aldeguer.
The first yellow flag came out from Fabio Di Giannantonio at Turn 3. The bike slipped out from underneath him into the right-hander. He got to his feet with no issue, making it back to his pit box with 30 minutes left. Pablo Nieto, VR46 Team Manager, added that an FP1 crash is not much of a worry.
Zarco kept good pace, managing to keep in contention to get a Qualifying 2 position if Practice went this way. At the halfway point, he sat in 10th position.
His teammate, Diogo Moreira continued to show promise as he sat in sixth place for a portion of the session. He is one of the only riders to still not have a confirmation of his 2027 moves. However, it is unlikely that he will leave the Honda manufacturer.
With five minutes to go, another yellow flag came out at Turn 12. Pedro Acosta dropped the bike far before the apex, as seen by a very small lean angle. He was running to get back to the pits and head out but he would not resume this session.
For the first time at Aragón this year, the chequered flag was waved and Marc Márquez went fastest. After was Raúl Fernández, Marco Bezzecchi, Álex Márquez and Pedro Acosta in the top five. Then Jack Miller, Franco Morbidelli, Fabio DiGiannantonio, Fermin Aldeguer and Fabio Quartararo rounded up the top ten.
Practice
Game time came in Practice as each of the riders fight for the top 10 positions. This allows them to make it to Qualifying 2 and hold hope for pole position on Saturday morning. It was all to play for and just like in FP1, all riders were out of their garages immediately.
Zarco continued to keep a great streak as he slotted himself comfortably in the top 10 towards the start. A small slip at Turn 8 nearly saw him in the gravel but he saved the bike just in time. As most riders came in to discuss the track, both LCR Honda riders stayed out to get more information.
Marc Márquez dominated again in this session after a torrid weekend at Silverstone. He finished with a ninth and seventh place in the Sprint and Race. This could be down to Aragón being one of the only anti-clockwise tracks on the calendar where he seems to perform best. He has won 36 out of the 59 Grand Prix in his career with this orientation. This would also allow his right arm to rest more on corners, as he still suffers from his injury which occurred in Mandalika last season.
Championship leader, Jorge Martín, remained in seventh position throughout the midpoint of the session. This was whilst his teammate and championship contender, Bezzecchi fought with Márquez for the top position in second.
The last 15 minutes saw Márquez and Bezzecchi at the top of the timing sheets, and Di Giannantonio and Acosta close behind. It was Joan Mir and Álex Márquez who were at risk of a bottom twelve finish which would put them in Qualifying 1 tomorrow. But there was still so much time for all of this to change.
Miller went down with 12 minutes to go. He had announced this weekend that he will be leaving the Prima Pramac team after two seasons. This leaves him without a MotoGP seat for 2027 but the Australian is heavily rumoured to try a venture in WorldSBK.
World Record Time!
With under 10 minutes to go, Marc Márquez broke the track record at Aragón with a 1:45.493 compared to the 1:45.704 previously set by him in 2025. This was just as all riders piled into the pit lane before their final laps for the Friday afternoon. While his teammate sits comfortably at the top, Bagnaia struggled to put in a decent lap to get into the top 10. His second to last lap was over a second slower and in his final moment, he rolled out of his lap to only place 13th in the timings.
Usually when one rider breaks a track record, it doesn’t take long for another to do the same. In a final run, Bezzecchi further beat Márquez with a 1:45.455 while his brother Álex took the second spot just 0.010 seconds behind. As the session finished, Zarco just made it into the top 10 as he pushed out his teammate into Qualifying 1.
Qualifying 2 currently sits with Marco Bezzecchi taking the best lap of Friday in P1, Álex Márquez, Marc Márquez, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Fermín Aldeguer, Raúl Fernández, Jorge Martín, Pedro Acosta, Franco Morbidelli and Johann Zarco.
This leaves Diogo Moreira, Luca Marini, Pecco Bagnaia, Fabio Quartararo, Joan Mir, Álex Rins, Enea Bastianini, Brad Binder, Jack Miller, Pol Espargaró, Toprak Razgatlıoğlu and Lorenzo Savadori fighting for the top two spots to make it into Qualifying 2 on Saturday.
Now, Saturday is the main focus that all riders should have on their mind as this brings on Qualifying and the Sprint Race.
Feature Image courtesy of MotoGP.com