Marquez sends ominous message in first 2025 MotoGP practice

As one of the only parts of a MotoGP weekend with nothing really at stake, free practice one is not necessarily a representative session.

But the ease with which Marc Marquez topped it at the Thai Grand Prix was still ominous for everyone else, particularly Ducati team-mate Pecco Bagnaia - who had a scrappy first official session of 2025.

Marquez’s early 1m29.423s on only his sixth lap put him half a second clear of the field and kept him at the front right to the end even as many others switched to fresh and softer tyres for their final runs.

Bagnaia was 0.7 seconds slower and right back in 10th, having at least four minor off-track moments, albeit while trying a long run with a soft front tyre while Marquez stayed on the more durable hard front. Bagnaia’s outright position was affected by not doing a late qualifying-style run, but the gap to Marquez was not.

Leading positions

1 M Marquez
2 Morbidelli
3 Quartararo
4 Miller
5 Bezzecchi
Full results at bottom of page

Franco Morbidelli was second for VR46 Ducati with a late soft-front-tyre lap that got him to within 0.158s of Marquez.

Fabio Quartararo and Jack Miller also took fresh tyres at the end to go third and fourth, but Yamaha had been near the front throughout with Quartararo.

Long-time second-place rider Marco Bezzecchi didn’t do a late qualifying-style run so dropped to fifth on the best Aprilia.

Trackhouse unveiled a special Gulf livery for the first two rounds ahead of practice and its Moto2 champion new signing Ai Ogura took it to sixth with his soft-tyre run.

Alex Marquez stayed on hard tyres and was seventh for Gresini ahead of Miller’s Pramac Yamaha team-mate Miguel Oliveira and leading KTM runner Maverick Vinales.

Tech3 rider Vinales’ position was helped by using a new soft front at the end. He appeared to have technical problems twice - cruising back to the pitlane early on and then having to abort a practice start at the end.

Though the Hondas of Johann Zarco, Luca Marini and Joan Mir were 11th to 13th at the flag, the works pair had been in the top six for much of the morning and didn’t take fresh tyres for their last runs.

Fabio Di Giannantonio returned to action for the first time since breaking his collarbone at the opening test and was 18th on the new(ish)-spec VR46 Ducati.

FP1 results

1 Marc Marquez (Ducati) 1m29.423s
2 Franco Morbidelli (VR46 Ducati) +0.158s
3 Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) +0.342s
4 Jack Miller (Pramac Yamaha) +0.417s
5 Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) +0.428s
6 Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia) +0.496s
7 Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) +0.521s
8 Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse Aprilia) +0.595s
9 Maverick Vinales (Tech3 KTM) +0.631s
10 Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati) +0.718s
11 Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) +0.796s
12 Luca Marini (Honda) +0.810s
13 Joan Mir (Honda) +0.818s
14 Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati) +0.846s
15 Alex Rins (Yamaha) +0.918s
16 Pedro Acosta (KTM) +0.962s
17 Somkiat Chantra (LCR Honda) +1.048s
18 Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) +1.114s
19 Brad Binder (KTM) +1.217s
20 Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM) +1.299s
21 Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) +1.617s
22 Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia) +2.421s