The Friday practice kicked off in exciting fashion, with Joan Mir the first to clock a time. Just five minutes in, Fabio Quartararo took the early lead — but not for long, as Brad Binder continued his strong pace from FP1.

At the start, the top ten featured a mix of names like Luca Marini and Enea Bastianini. But the standings quickly shifted as reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia took charge, pushing Quartararo down the order. Mir also surprised with a strong lap alongside rookie Fermín Aldeguer.

Quartararo wasn’t done, though. He showed blistering speed and was the first to dip into the 1:30s range. Pedro Acosta briefly jumped to second, only to be overtaken by Jack Miller. Yamaha looked strong overall, with Quartararo setting the tone.

Meanwhile, Bagnaia’s fastest effort only got him up to third, while Miguel Oliveira — returning to action — was struggling down in 21st. Alex Márquez, initially 11th, climbed up to second, showing great pace.

With 46 minutes remaining, riders headed to the pits. Maverick Viñales maintained an impressive rhythm, running fourth and taking advantage of clean track. Marc Márquez, however, had slipped out of the top 10 — until he suddenly surged to the top of the leaderboard.

A yellow flag in Sector 2 followed a crash from Ai Ogura. Despite that, Bagnaia moved into third, and Alex Márquez climbed to fourth. The rest of the top ten included Miller, Viñales, Acosta, Aldeguer, Bezzecchi, and Binder. At the bottom were Oliveira and Lorenzo Savadori.

Viñales continued to climb, reaching second place. Honda riders were notably absent from the top ten, until Marini broke through into fourth.

With 18 minutes left, Joan Mir caused another yellow flag after crashing. Riders returned to the pits for fresh tires, preparing for their final flying laps to secure a spot in Q2.

Back on track with 15 minutes remaining, Viñales kept proving he’s KTM’s strongest rider this season. Ai Ogura tried to break into the top 10 but only managed 11th. Acosta jumped to third, while Franco Morbidelli and Fabio Di Giannantonio languished in 18th and 19th.

Aldeguer improved to third, but Quartararo and Marc Márquez were locked in a battle for the top spot. Both looked fast but couldn't finish clean laps. Eventually, Alex Márquez pushed into third, Marini held ninth, and Bagnaia returned to third, just ahead of Aldeguer.

Marco Bezzecchi also made progress, moving to seventh. Then came one of the biggest moments — Quartararo briefly retook the lead before Marc Márquez responded with a stunning lap of 1:29.855, despite crashing immediately afterward.

As the clock ticked down, Oliveira stayed in last, with Savadori 21st and Takaaki Nakagami 20th. Alex Márquez improved again to fourth, and Aldeguer made another big push but had to settle for third. Bagnaia moved up to second, then Johann Zarco crashed, causing another yellow flag.

Quartararo had a flying lap deleted due to that yellow. Brad Binder also crashed, dropping to 19th. Viñales climbed to eighth, and Marini edged Zarco out of the top 10. Quartararo improved again to take second, and Bezzecchi secured 10th, though he lost time in Sector 3.