MotoGP FP1 results as Marc Marquez sets the pace at Czech Grand Prix after Pedro Acosta crash

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Ducati’s Marc Marquez set the pace during FP1 at the 2026 MotoGP Czech Grand Prix on Friday, after a flurry of early crashes at Brno including for KTM rider Pedro Acosta.

MotoGP has set up its camp at Brno this weekend for round nine of the season, and the first race for Alex Marquez since the Gresini star’s huge crash with Acosta in Barcelona. Marquez suffered a C7 vertebra fracture and broke his right collarbone, yet he only missed two races.

Marquez admits he’s lacking “strength” on his return from injury at Brno, where his brother Marc did the double in 2025 by winning the Sprint Race and Czech GP. Another weekend of success in Czechia could await Marc in 2026, too, after a strong start to his weekend in FP1.

Speed was not easy to unlock for Alex Marquez on his return from injury in FP1 at the Czech Grand Prix, though. The Gresini rider spent most of the session rooted to the bottom of the timesheets below LCR stand-in Cal Crutchlow, before improving to P18 with a late flying lap.

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Marc Marquez sets the fastest lap in FP1 at the 2026 MotoGP Czech Grand Prix

The MotoGP field wasted no time before they headed out onto the circuit at the start of FP1 at Brno on Friday. But it also did not take long for Pedro Acosta, Maverick Vinales and Marco Bezzecchi to push beyond the limits and each have an early visit through Brno’s gravel traps.

READ MORE: How to watch the 2026 Czech Grand Prix, including Brno weather forecast

KTM star Acosta was the first rider to fall at Turn 9 within the first minutes of the session, as he dropped his RC16 into the gravel trap after losing the front under acceleration out of the right-hand turn. And not long after, Vinales was also picking his satellite RC16 up at Turn 8.

Vinales of Tech3 lost the front end of his RC16 late into Turn 8, and he skidded through the gravel trap before coming to a full stop just shy of the crash barrier. Turn 8 would also catch LCR rookie Diogo Moreira out shortly after in a high-speed incident that wrecked his Honda.

Bezzecchi soon added Turn 13 to the list of incident zones, as he ran deep under braking on the Aprilia RS-GP into the left-hander. Instead of risking folding the front in the corner after feeling the bike was not settled, the Italian took the safer option to ensure he kept running.

Amid the flurry of early incidents, Yamaha rider Alex Rins set the initial benchmark pace on the V4 YZR-M1. But the Spaniard was soon shuffled down the order, as VR46 racer Fabio Di Giannantonio put his Ducati GP26 in P1 before Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer did so on a GP25.

Even Brad Binder was finding speed on his KTM while Acosta and Vinales made their ways back into the pit lane during FP1 at the Czech GP. But the early pace-setters were all Ducati riders, with works duo Francesco Bagnaia and then Marc Marquez rivalling Aldeguer’s lap.

Marquez continued to find a groove throughout the middle of FP1 at the Czech GP, but Ai Ogura of Trackhouse offered the Ducati star a new rival at the top of the order aboard his Aprilia RS-GP. But issues, rather than pace, were awaiting factory Aprilia ace Jorge Martin.

Martin must serve a double long lap penalty at Brno for the huge Turn 1 crash he caused at the start of the Hungarian Grand Prix last time out. Knowing the penalty awaits, Martin put a lot of focus into practising the long lap loop in FP1, but his bike did not want to play ball.

As Martin carried out one practice run through the long lap loop at Turn 7, his bike simply cut out under acceleration on the exit with 15 minutes of FP1 remaining. At the time, the 2024 champion had not set a fast lap and made his way back to the pits down in just P20.

A crash even awaited Marc Marquez inside the final three minutes of FP1 at the Czech GP, too. After going faster than his previous best lap through the first split, Marquez ran wide through Turn 7 and lost the front on a dirtier part of the track to bring out the yellow flags.

Despite his crash, Marquez remained the fastest rider in FP1 at the Czech GP, but Yamaha rival Fabio Quartararo and Raul Fernandez of Trackhouse both shot up the order with Joan Mir of Honda at the very end. The trio were all separated by just 0.020 seconds in P2 to P4.

Full 2026 MotoGP Czech Grand Prix FP1 timesheets