2025 Qatar MotoGP: Franco Morbidelli tops Pecco Bagnaia in Practice
VR46 rider Morbidelli fastest in Practice for Qatar GP
VR46 Ducati MotoGP rider Franco Morbidelli led Pecco Bagnaia in Practice for the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix, with Marc Marquez third.
The VR46 team has been in fine form in recent weeks, with Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Di Giannantonio scoring podiums in Argentina and America respectively.
That form continued on Friday at the Qatar GP, as Morbidelli set the timing screens ablaze in the hour-long Practice session to end the day fastest of all with a 1m50.830s.
He headed factory Ducati team rider Pecco Bagnaia, who bested team-mate Marc Marquez - albeit by only 0.022s.
Both factory team Ducati riders elected against final time attacks at the end of Practice, with both going onto used medium rubber to get to the chequered flag.
Di Giannantonio was fourth, while championship leader Alex Marquez (Gresini) completed an all Ducati top five.
Reigning champion Jorge Martin will face Q1 on Saturday morning after ending his first day on the factory Aprilia 20th and 1.568s off the pace.
After the first 10 minutes of running in Practice, Marc Marquez led the way on a 1m51.810s and was over half a second clear of the field at one stage.
That advantage was steadily chipped into by his rivals, with Alex Marquez eventually deposing him with just over 30 minutes to go with a 1m51.704s.
Morbidelli took over top spot with just under 13 minutes to go with a 1m51.253s, though this was bested by Bagnaia on a 1m50.975s.
That looked set to keep Bagnaia fastest of all, before Morbidelli found a 1m50.830s at the end of the session to demote the double world champion to second.
Leading the non-Ducati charge was Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo, who put in a 1m51.293s late on to bag a Q2 spot. He is the only Yamaha rider directly into Q2.
Pedro Acosta was seventh for KTM ahead of Tech3 counterpart Maverick Vinales, while Gresini Ducati rookie Fermin Aldeguer and LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco rounded out the top 10.
Zarco’s late improvement demoted Yamaha’s Alex Rins to 11th, and he’ll face Q1 with the likes of factory Honda duo Luca Marini and Joan Mir, and KTM’s Brad Binder - who crashed at Turn 1 in the closing stages.
Jack Miller had a second crash of the day on his Pramac Yamaha late on, which left him 17th, while LCR’s Somkiat Chantra - who was last - fell at the start of the session.
