Marc Marquez Bounces Back from Crash to Top Friday Practice at Red Bull US GP

Austin, Texas, March 28, 2026: Seven-time MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez delivered a stunning comeback performance at the Red Bull Grand Prix of the United States, finishing fastest on Friday despite an early crash in FP1.

Riding for Ducati Lenovo Team, Marquez suffered a high-speed fall in the opening session but emerged unscathed. By the end of the day, he had turned the narrative around, clocking the quickest lap in FP2 at a circuit widely regarded as one of his strongest.

However, the Spaniard faced fierce competition throughout the day. Rising Japanese talent Ai Ogura, representing the Trackhouse MotoGP Team, came agonizingly close to the top spot, finishing just 0.053 seconds behind. Meanwhile, Fabio Di Giannantonio of the VR46 Racing Team secured third place, 0.187 seconds off Marquez’s benchmark.

Friday’s action-packed sessions saw no shortage of drama, with a total of nine crashes highlighting the challenging track conditions. Among those who went down were Jorge Martin (Aprilia Racing), Enea Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3), Franco Morbidelli, Ogura, Toprak Razgatlioglu, and Alex Marquez. Later in the session, Brad Binder also crashed, adding to the day’s incident tally.

Championship leader Marco Bezzecchi, riding for Aprilia Racing, ended Friday in fourth, narrowly missing out on third by just 0.013 seconds. Alex Marquez rounded out the top five for Gresini Racing, while Pedro Acosta, who topped FP1 for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, slipped to sixth overall.

Despite his earlier crash, Martin secured seventh place ahead of reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia in eighth. Luca Marini and Bastianini completed the top ten, with the latter making a notable return directly into Q2 contention for the first time since the 2025 Catalan Grand Prix.

Just outside the automatic Q2 spots, Joan Mir finished 11th, while Binder’s late crash left him down in 19th.

With two more Q2 places still up for grabs in Saturday’s qualifying session, all eyes remain on whether Marquez can maintain his momentum or if challengers like Ogura and Di Giannantonio can disrupt his charge at the iconic Circuit of the Americas.