MotoGP Spanish GP: Alex Marquez leads Ducati 1-2 in Friday Practice, Pedro Acosta into Q1

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Alex Marquez topped Friday practice for the Spanish Grand Prix as Pedro Acosta was relegated to Q1 for the first time in the 2026 MotoGP season.

Having struggled for form so far on the factory-spec GP26, the younger Marquez returned to the front at Jerez on Friday, at a track where he claimed his maiden MotoGP victory last year.

The Spaniard led a 1-2 for Ducati in the hour-long session at Jerez, but all four full-season Aprilia RS-GPs also made it safely into the second leg of qualifying.

At the start of the session, Alex Marquez was the first rider to beat Fabio di Giannantonio’s time of 1m36.954s from FP1, finding an extra three tenths over his VR46 rival.

But just a few seconds later, di Giannantonio wrestled the crown back, lapping the circuit in 1m35.560s to set a new benchmark for the rest of the session.

That time stood unbeaten until riders switched to the soft rear tyre in the final 20 minutes of the session, with di Giannantonio himself the first to go quicker with a 1m36.267s.

It wasn’t until 11 minutes remained on the clock that the Italian was displaced from the top, with Alex Marquez going 0.066s quicker on his first flying lap on the soft Michelin.

The 30-year-old moved the goalposts on his next tour, posting a blistering time of 1m35.704s to edge over half a second clear of the rest of the field.

The closest anyone who could come to Marquez’s time was di Giannantonio, who improved to 1m36.337s in the final minutes - but still ended up three tenths off the outright pace.

Aprilia’s charge was led by factory rider Marco Bezzecchi, who finished just over half a second down following his late soft-tyre run.

Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez was facing Q1 heading into the dying moments of qualifying, but a late flyer lifted him to fourth place, just 0.017s behind Bezzecchi’s Aprilia.