Austrian MotoGP: Jorge Martin fastest as Acosta brings out the red flag in FP1

Jorge Martin topped MotoGP FP1 for the Austrian Grand Prix, finishing Friday morning's practice just over 0.2 seconds ahead of his teammate, Franco Morbidelli.

Morbidelli had led for much of the session with his 1:29.872, but a late time attack with a fresh soft-compound rear tyre from Martin saw him hit the top just before Pedro Acosta crashed a turn 2b, the second part of the chicane that was introduced in 2022.

Acosta crashed again a couple of minutes later, having not entered the pits following his turn 2b crash, this time at turn four. He locked the front as soon as he touched the brakes in the usually insignificant left-hand kink before turn four. His bike slid towards the inside of the track and hit the inside wall, while Acosta slid across the track and got up seemingly unharmed. Fortunately, there were no other bikes in Acosta's vicinity when he crashed the second time. The Spaniard ended the session in sixth place, but did not get back out on track after the red flag.

Acosta was not the only multi-crasher of the session, as Aleix Espargaro crashed twice in the opening minutes. The first came at turn 2a, the first part of the aforementioned chicane, and the second at 2b. Espargaro eventually clocked 14 laps, but finished FP1 down in 25th and last.

Brad Binder was another crasher at 2b. Like Espargaro and Acosta, he fell while running the hard-compound front tyre. Binder ended Friday morning fifth.

Pol Espargaro is wildcarding for KTM this weekend. He's one of three wildcards in Austria, as Lorenzo Savadori is present for Aprilia, and HRC has entered Stefan Bradl. The KTM of Espargaro is perhaps the most interesting bike, though, with radical aero updates and a new exhaust. The Spaniard also finished an encouraging third, just ahead of Francesco Bagnaia, who had a couple of moments of his own during the session, including a run-off after the red flag and an early near-high-side at turn nine.

Joan Mir was an encouraging ninth for HRC, while Silverstone winner Enea Bastianini was only 12th-fastest.

There was also a crash for Marco Bezzecchi early on at turn three, and he ended down in 15th.