MotoGP Misano: Bezzecchi responds to Marquez, Bagnaia's nightmare continues

The fiery duel between Aprilia and Ducati in Emilia-Romagna continues: in the afternoon Bez edges it, but Marquez saved a tire. It’s going to be a very interesting weekend.

The MotoGP Pre-Qualifying for the 2026 San Marino and Rimini Riviera Grand Prix ends with Marco Bezzecchi topping the timesheets with a best lap of 1:30.144. In the final minutes he moved ahead of brothers Marc and Alex Marquez, trailing by 103 and 185 thousandths respectively. Worth noting that the reigning champion, who set the best lap in the morning FP1, did not use a second soft tire, just as in Aragon. He’ll have one extra to use in Saturday’s Qualifying.

Fabio Di Giannantonio and Franco Morbidelli complete the top 5 with the Pertamina Enduro VR46 team Ducatis. Excellent sixth place for Pedro Acosta with the factory KTM. Applause as well for Luca Marini and Johann Zarco, who take their Hondas into Q2. And what about Pol Espargaro? Called up by Tech3 to replace the injured Maverick Vinales, the KTM test rider clocked the ninth time and earned direct access to Q2 in Qualifying.

The final spot went to Jorge Martin with the other RS-GP26 of the Aprilia Racing team. The 2026 MotoGP World Championship leader just scraped through. Enea Bastianini missed out by 14 thousandths, Raul Fernandez by 26. Both will have regrets.

Pre-Qualifying to forget for Pecco Bagnaia, who went no better than 19th and will have to face Q1 in Saturday morning’s Qualifying. For the number 63 of the Ducati Lenovo team, it’s a truly complicated situation. At Misano he expected to be much more competitive, not to struggle this much. Behind him only the Pramac Yamahas of Jack Miller and Toprak Razgatlioglu.