Bezzecchi Shatters Lap Record in Practice

The MotoGP™ field lit up the Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit on Friday afternoon, with Marco Bezzecchi leading the way in a record-setting second practice session for this weekend’s Liqui Moly Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix 2025.

Still nursing a back injury from his crash with Marc Marquez in Indonesia, the Italian reset all the records with a blistering time of 1m26.580s, the first rider to dip under the 1m27 barrier around the iconic Victorian track. At the end of the session Bezzecchi went out again and lowered his mark to 1m26.492s, almost 0.3s clear of an otherwise close top 10. It was a staggering performance from the rider of the RS-GP, who will face an uphill task in Sunday’s race, in which he will have to serve two Long Lap penalties for his role in the Marquez crash at Mandalika.

Second fastest for the session was another Aprilia. Raul Fernandez dragged the Trackhouse bikes around to top the fastest Ducatis later in the session, the Spaniard showing that his first podium in Indonesia suits him.

Third fastest was Fabio Di Giannantonio. The Italian put his Ducati GP25 on top when most of the riders were looking for race running but when it came time to go fast on soft tyres, he was more than up to the task.

Fourth went to the ‘other’ Fabio, Fabio Quartararo showing that there is plenty of speed in the Yamaha M1, which is due to be replaced at the end of the season when the Japanese maker introduces its new V4.

Teammate Alex Rins was not far behind him but the two factory Yamahas were split by Alex Marquez, who is looking for a result that will underline his second place in the World Championship behind his absent brother Marc.

Luca Marini gave Honda a great result with seventh place ahead of the fastest of the KTM riders. A few days after strolling down the streets of New York City, while on vacation with his wife, Pol Espargaro put the regular Red Bull racers in the shade, the test rider taking little time to accustom himself to the RC16, which topped the radar gun with a speed of 349.6km/h!

Pedro Acosta was the other KTM rider to make the top 10 – by 0.005s – but the two Austrian bikes were split by a Ducati. For the second session of the day Francesco Bagnaia did just one lap on his preferred GP25 before parking it and swapping to his backup machine. The two-time World Champion looked all at sea at first but knuckled down to set the ninth best time of the session, halving the gap between himself and Bezzecchi to 0.64s.

Jack Miller was fast enough for 13th on the Pramac Yamaha, though the Australian looked excellent in the longer runs, the Yamaha M1 close behind the KTMs in the speed trap, presumably helped by a significant tow down the long Gardner Straight.

Under normal circumstances Bezzecchi would be the favourite for the weekend after such an emphatic performance, but much will depend on how the Aprilia ace can handle the Long Lap Penalty he will have to serve in Sunday’s Grand Prix.