MotoGP Czech GP: Ai Ogura leads Marco Bezzecchi in Friday practice, Jorge Martin to Q1

Ai Ogura led Marco Bezzecchi in Practice for the Czech Grand Prix, but it wasn’t a perfect day for Aprilia as Jorge Martin missed out on a direct entry into Q2.

Known for his qualifying struggles, Trackhouse’s Ogura showed strong one-lap pace in a record-breaking session at Brno, beating factory rider Bezzecchi to the top spot by just under a tenth.

VR46’s Fabio di Giannantonio ended up third, as Aprilia, KTM and Ducati all took turns at the top of the timesheets.

Di Giannantonio set the early pace in practice, just hours after fellow Ducati rider Marc Marquez had dominated the opening practice at Brno.

However, it didn’t take long for Aprilia to surge to the front, with factory rider Marco Bezzecchi moving to the top spot with a time of 1m53.080s.

The Italian’s time remained unbeaten until about 20 minutes into the session, when Pedro Acosta snatched the top spot by just 0.078s for the KTM.

Around midway through the session, Aprilia riders deviated from the usual strategy and switched to a new set of tyres early, with Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez taking advantage of fresh rubber to set the first sub-1m53s time of the day.

Fernandez’s team-mate Ogura went even faster just moments later, before championship leader Bezzecchi set a new track record in 1m52.275s on the factory RS-GP to move the goalposts.

Marco Bezzecchi, Aprilia Racing

Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / Getty Images

With about a third of the session remaining, the KTMs began lighting up the timesheets, disrupting Aprilia’s hegemony at Brno. Maverick Vinales first climbed to second aboard the Tech3 bike, before factory rider Acosta displaced Bezzecchi from the top by just under half a tenth.

The final high-performance runs began with 15 minutes remaining on the clock, with Marquez putting Ducati at the front with a blistering time of 1m51.988s on the factory bike.

That was despite the reigning world champion going down at Turn 11 in the first 10 minutes of the session, in what was his second crash of the day.

Marquez looked set to end the day on top, but di Giannantonio managed to find another half a tenth to move to the top with 1m51.942s.

Ultimately, Aprilia had the final laugh on Friday afternoon, as Bezzecchi and then Ogura successfully overhauled di Giannantonio’s Ducati.

Ogura ended up fastest among the two Aprilias with a time of 1m51.735, while di Giannantonio held on to third despite an impressive time from Francesco Bagnaia on the factory Ducati in the final moments of the session.

Marquez eventually ended the day fifth behind Bagnaia, while Acosta could only manage sixth on the KTM.

Honda’s Joan Mir finished an impressive seventh despite crashing at Turn 7 with two minutes remaining in practice and bringing out the yellow flags.

He just edged out rookie Diogo Moreira on the LCR Honda, as Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini) and Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse) completed the top 10.

Martin briefly moved to eighth but was ultimately shuffled out of the top 10 by a flurry of late improvements, leaving him in Q1 on a weekend when he is carrying a double long-lap penalty.

Vinales could only muster 12th after his early heroics, while the fastest Yamaha was Fabio Quartararo in 14th, seven tenths down on pacesetter Ogura.

FiP

All Stats

Cla	Rider	#		Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	A. Ogura Trackhouse Racing Team	79		Aprilia	19	1'51.735		174.079
2	M. Bezzecchi Aprilia Racing Team	72		Aprilia	23	+0.091 1'51.826	0.091	173.938
3	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49		Ducati	18	+0.207 1'51.942	0.116	173.757
4	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	63		Ducati	21	+0.248 1'51.983	0.041	173.694
5	M. Marquez Ducati Team	93		Ducati	21	+0.253 1'51.988	0.005	173.686
6	P. Acosta Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	37		KTM	18	+0.493 1'52.228	0.240	173.315
7	J. Mir Honda HRC	36		Honda	19	+0.518 1'52.253	0.025	173.276
8	D. Moreira Team LCR	11		Honda	18	+0.580 1'52.315	0.062	173.180
9	F. Aldeguer Gresini Racing	54		Ducati	19	+0.585 1'52.320	0.005	173.173
10	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25		Aprilia	18	+0.619 1'52.354	0.034	173.120
11	J. Martin Aprilia Racing Team	89		Aprilia	21	+0.630 1'52.365	0.011	173.103
12	M. Viñales Tech 3	12		KTM	21	+0.657 1'52.392	0.027	173.062
13	L. Marini Honda HRC	10		Honda	21	+0.689 1'52.424	0.032	173.012
14	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20		Yamaha	23	+0.798 1'52.533	0.109	172.845
15	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73		Ducati	19	+0.821 1'52.556	0.023	172.809
16	E. Bastianini Tech 3	23		KTM	19	+0.826 1'52.561	0.005	172.802
17	F. Morbidelli Team VR46	21		Ducati	22	+0.841 1'52.576	0.015	172.779
18	J. Miller Pramac Racing	43		Yamaha	22	+0.848 1'52.583	0.007	172.768
19	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33		KTM	20	+0.864 1'52.599	0.016	172.743
20	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42		Yamaha	19	+1.285 1'53.020	0.421	172.100
21	T. Razgatlioglu Pramac Racing	7		Yamaha	18	+1.663 1'53.398	0.378	171.526
22	C. Crutchlow Team LCR	35		Honda	19	+2.112 1'53.847	0.449	170.850
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