The afternoon practice started with sunny weather, and the riders went immediately on track. This session is important, as the fastest top 10 riders will gain direct entry to Q2.

The times began in the 1:32 to 1:34 range. From the start, Marco Bezzecchi was in the lead, but not for long, as both Marc Márquez and Pedro Acosta started flying laps, attacking first place. As they crossed the checkered line, Acosta briefly took the lead before Bezzecchi retook it. However, Bezzecchi’s lap time was deleted, dropping him down to 13th.

The early top 10 looked as follows: Acosta, Bagnaia, Zarco, Di Giannantonio, Binder, Bastianini, Marini, Fernández, Morbidelli, and Álex Márquez.

After the first 8 minutes, the leaders kept changing as lap times improved, closing in on the 1:30 range. Most riders chose a medium front and medium rear tire setup, testing race pace. Bezzecchi, however, opted for a qualifying setup with a medium front and soft rear.

With 12 minutes gone, Marc Márquez took the lead with a 1:31.026. Three minutes later, the riders headed into the pits. The top 10 then were: Marc Márquez, Bezzecchi, Álex Márquez, Quartararo, Marini, Bagnaia, Bastianini, Morbidelli, Di Giannantonio, and Acosta.

With 36 minutes remaining, the riders returned to the track. On their flying laps, Di Giannantonio improved to 2nd, while Viñales jumped to 10th ahead of Acosta. Bagnaia, attempting a fast lap, made a mistake and ran wide, throwing away a good attempt.

At the halfway point, Raúl Fernández improved to 9th. For this weekend, Honda brought a new aero package and exhaust, which seemed to work, as Marini sat in 8th while his teammate was down in 15th.

With 27 minutes left, half the riders returned to the pits. The top 10 then were: Marc Márquez, Morbidelli, Di Giannantonio, Bezzecchi, Álex Márquez, Bagnaia, Quartararo, Marini, Fernández, and Bastianini.

Pedro Acosta took advantage of a clear track, first improving to 9th, making him the only KTM rider in the top 10, and then jumping further up to 6th.

With 16 minutes remaining, all but three riders were back in the pits. Most ran the medium–medium combination. The top 10 looked like this: Marc Márquez, Morbidelli, Di Giannantonio, Bezzecchi, Marini, Acosta, Álex Márquez, Bagnaia, Quartararo, and Raúl Fernández.

With 12 minutes to go, Francesco Bagnaia took the lead of the session. Meanwhile, Marc Márquez launched another flying lap, attacking first place. Quartararo also improved, climbing to 5th. Marc Márquez responded by taking back the lead, lowering the session into the 1:30s. Bezzecchi then jumped to 2nd ahead of Bagnaia, and Joan Mir surprised by moving up to 4th.

With 8 minutes remaining, riders pitted for their final runs. On their return, they began their measured laps. With 4 minutes left, the first yellow flag of the session appeared, caused by Augusto Fernández crashing at Turn 2.

A second yellow flag came with 2 minutes left when Joan Mir crashed at Turn 9. Then a third was shown in the final minute, as Raúl Fernández crashed at Turn 15. Most riders couldn’t complete flying sectors. Finally, just as the checkered flag came out, a fourth yellow was triggered by Jack Miller crashing in Sector 1.

Franco Morbidelli, who had been on a decent lap, improved to 3rd. Luca Marini also improved, jumping to 7th, while Quartararo, despite starting a promising lap, ended up 12th.

The final top 10 riders going directly to Q2 were Marc Márquez, Marco Bezzecchi, Franco Morbidelli, Francesco Bagnaia, Álex Márquez, Joan Mir, Luca Marini, Jorge Martín, Pedro Acosta, and Fabio Di Giannantonio.