MotoGP FP1 is in the bag at Brno and after his double in Hungary, P1 was once again in the hands of Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team). It wasn’t without drama though as the reigning World Champion fell late on in the session but was all OK. For Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing), a far from ideal start to action as he was just 16th.
It was a dramatic start to action in Brno with crashes straight away. The first was at Turn 9 for Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), tucking the front just four minutes into the session. The next was at Turn 8 for Maverick Viñales (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) whilst a couple of minutes later, the marshals were busy again when Diogo Moreira (Pro Honda LCR) fell there too. All riders were up on their feet and OK whilst amidst the drama, Bezzecchi also had an off-track excursion at Turn 13 but kept it upright. Elsewhere, Marc Marquez was on lap record pace with a 1’53.599 after just 10 minutes of action seeing him lay down an early benchmark.
A 1’53.303 was the order of the day at the end of FP1 play but the #93 did suffer a late fall, tucking the front at Turn 7 and ending his session early. It was a fine late lap from Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) which put the 2021 World Champion in second place overall, two tenths off Marc Marquez at the front. Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) and Joan Mir (Honda HRC Castrol) made it four manufacturers in the top four, with Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) a strong fifth.
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) was a solid sixth to start his Czech GP weekend, ahead of Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team). Acosta finished as top KTM in P9 whilst Luca Marini (Honda HRC Castrol) rounded out the top ten. Fresh off the back of his result last time out,
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP) was 11th. Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing) was 14th and suffered a technical problem whilst practicing his Long Lap Penalty whereas teammate Bezzecchi had a slow start, rooted to 16th. Returning from injury, Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) was 18th and just 1.2s off his brother in P1.