Pedro Acosta continued his impressive form by leading Friday Practice for the MotoGP Austrian Grand Prix, despite a bizarre crash involving Alex Marquez that caused a red flag.
The incident occurred when Alex Marquez fell on the straight between Turns 1 and 2 at the Red Bull Ring with around 13 minutes remaining. The session was halted for 11 minutes and 42 seconds to clear the stricken Ducati. Marquez was unharmed and rejoined after the restart.
Acosta, who also topped FP1, set the early pace with a 1m28.840s in the first 10 minutes. He then switched to a fresh soft rear tyre and reeled off three consecutive session-best laps. His best effort, a 1m28.371s, came on a used soft rear on his final flying lap. Gresini's Fermin Aldeguer ended up just 0.127s adrift, while returning Ai Ogura was third on the Trackhouse Aprilia.
Championship leader Marc Marquez had to settle for fourth with a late 1m28.585s, narrowly ahead of Aprilia's Jorge Martin. Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati) and Brad Binder (KTM) completed the top seven, securing direct Q2 spots. Alex Marquez, despite his crash, was eighth, followed by Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia) and Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) in ninth and tenth.
For Honda, it was a challenging session. No Honda rider made it directly into Q2. Luca Marini was the fastest in 11th with a 1m28.821s, while Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) was 12th after crashing at Turn 4 early on.
Pecco Bagnaia's struggles continued as he faced Q1 for the fifth consecutive race. The factory Ducati rider's difficulties in adapting to the new bike remain evident.
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