The championship moved to COTA for its third round, and this weekend had a lot of question marks. Will Bezzecchi win his fifth consecutive race? Or will his teammate take the victory? And many more.

With the weekend kicking off with FP1, the riders went on track immediately for this session.

The first measured times started in a range from 2:04 to 2:09. From the start, the lead was held by Francesco Bagnaia. But not for long, as Marco Bezzecchi broke into the 2:03s and took the lead. As the session progressed, the times got faster.

With 10 minutes in, the top 10 looked as follows: Acosta, Di Giannantonio, Bagnaia, Bezzecchi, Alex Márquez, Fernandez, Bastianini, Morbidelli, Binder, Martin.

The first yellow flag was caused by Marc Márquez, who crashed at Turn 10, bringing out a red flag. Luckily, Marc Márquez was uninjured and the session could resume.

The first to return on track were Morbidelli, Binder, Ogura, Viñales, and Rins.

The riders chose a medium rear tyre, with the front being either soft or medium. Acosta was still holding his lead with a time of 2:02.595. Ai Ogura continued to impress, as he managed to also break into the 2:02s and move up to 3rd place. Meanwhile, Viñales, who is still battling shoulder pain, moved into 9th place. Brad Binder, who was looking for an improvement, moved into 4th place despite a slight mistake that cost him higher positions.

On the other hand, Yamaha was not doing well. The team has struggled to find pace, and their fastest rider was Fabio Quartararo in 17th place.

The Aprilia duo tried to catch up, moving into 4th and 5th place, but for now were unable to go further forward. Bagnaia, who once led the session, was now sitting in 6th place. The times were very close, as the top 15 positions were all within 1 second of the leader.

With 20 minutes left, the top 10 was as follows: Acosta, Di Giannantonio, Bezzecchi, Ogura, Martin, Bagnaia, Binder, Fernandez, Mir, Bastianini.

Bagnaia, using the empty track, pulled out an incredible lap and moved into the lead of the session. With 12 minutes left, Marc Márquez got ready to go back on track. The lead changed again, this time it was Raul Fernandez who took the lead with a time of 2:02.409. But shortly after, Di Giannantonio was the first to break into the 2:01s, with Martin joining him soon after. As Di Giannantonio completed another attempt, he improved his time even further.

Another rider ready to improve was Acosta from 4th place. He started a very strong lap and managed to retake the lead.

With the chequered flag out, some of the riders used the chance to set one final flying lap. But the grid remained the same.