Hungarian MotoGP Pre-Qualifying: Acosta blows everyone away, a nightmare for Bagnaia

Afternoon practice commanded by KTM—will this be the weekend for the Spaniard’s first victory? Poor Pecco, Moreira surprises.

MotoGP Friday at the Hungarian Grand Prix ended with Pedro Acosta topping the timesheets in the much-anticipated Pre-Qualifying. The Red Bull KTM Factory rider set his best lap in 1'36"827, leading the VR46 Ducati of Fabio Di Giannantonio by a hefty 413 thousandths and the Aprilia Trackhouse of Raul Fernandez by 501.

Fermin Aldeguer remains in strong form at the Balaton Park Circuit. Fourth fastest for the BK8 Gresini rider, who put the Aprilias of Ai Ogura and Marco Bezzecchi behind him, as well as Marc Marquez, seventh at 733 thousandths from Acosta. A different tail unit was also used on his Ducati Desmosedici GP26 in search of aerodynamic gains. The reigning MotoGP champion had set the fastest time in the morning FP1.

Also in the top 10 and thus directly into Q2 of Qualifying: Diogo Moreira (Honda LCR), Jorge Martin (Aprilia), and Jack Miller (Prima Pramac Yamaha). Fabio Quartararo missed out by the slimmest margin, pipped by a fellow brand rider. Pre-Qualifying to forget for Pecco Bagnaia, who struggled from the start and couldn’t do better than 14th, also behind the Yamaha of Toprak Razgatlioglu and the Honda of Luca Marini. A mistake in the final sector ruined his time attack. Disappointing as well for Enea Bastianini, just behind the Ducati rider on his KTM Tech3 RC16.

Outside the top 10 but still delivering a fine performance, Iker Lecuona. Called up by the BK8 Gresini team to replace the injured Alex Marquez, the Ducati Superbike rider finished 1"222 off Acosta, about two tenths shy of Q2 access. Not bad, considering his last MotoGP appearance dated back to 2023 (with Honda LCR). He felt good on the Desmosedici GP26 at the Balaton Park Circuit, improving run after run. The garage is very pleased with him.

Naturally, riders also used the afternoon practice session to prepare for the race, since the choice of tire for Sunday is not yet clear.

Piero Taramasso, Michelin Motorsport’s two-wheel manager, discussed the topic with Sky Sport MotoGP: "Up front, everyone will use the medium, which offers more stability and grip. At the rear, both the soft and the medium can be used. These are the same tires we brought here last year, when 50% of the riders chose the soft and the other 50% the medium. Performance is very similar. The soft has a little extra in the first two or three laps, then it stabilizes, while the medium takes a couple of laps to reach the soft’s level, and then they’re practically the same. At the end of the race there’s a drop in the last two or three laps. They give a different feeling, but they’re very close in performance, also because the asphalt is relatively new, being from last year: in such conditions the two compounds are more similar."