MotoGP
Published on April 25, 2025 • 14:50 PM by Marc Sériau

MotoGP Spain Jerez PRACTICE LIVE: Mister P2 is moving up in the world!

The MotoGP Practice session in Jerez marks the start of the European showdown, on circuits very different from those encountered overseas...

For its fifth round, the world championship MotoGP landed on the European continent for the Spanish Grand Prix, which is taking place for the 39th time on the Angel Nieto circuit in Jerez de la Frontera, in Andalusia.

Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team), who had stumbled in the USA and lost the lead in the general classification, recovered perfectly in Qatar, regaining the lead in the general classification with a 17-point lead over the former leader, his brother Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP). 

Francis Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team), which is nevertheless lining up solid weekends, cannot for the moment stem this wave of the Marquez brothers, but has built up a lead of 19 and 49 points over Franco Morbidely et Fabio Di Giannantonio, Both members du Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Teams are making a great collective start to the season. A reaction from "Pecco" is expected in Jerez, where the Italian has won the last three MotoGP races. Otherwise... 

First “non-Ducati” rider, Johann zarco (CASTROL Honda LCR) is on a good trend after achieving 4th place in Qatar, its best result of 2025. Since the end of last year, Honda has changed its engine philosophy, and while it now lacks a little power, it allows for better agility, which is beneficial to the RC213V. The Frenchman, however, remains the most capable of exploiting it to the best of his ability, and that is to his credit...

Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) is doing what it can to make the RS-GP shine, but it is obvious that the speed of George Martin (Aprilia Racing) is greatly missed at the Noale factory. With a return currently undetermined but in any case a long way off, they have to do without, also counting on the rookie's astonishing performances. Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) despite its relative underperformance at the Qatar Grand Prix.

Sandwiched between the two Aprilias, fabio quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) is the best rider to defend Iwata's colors, despite recurring grip issues. The Frenchman's performance is nevertheless improving, although we would like to see faster progress from the YZR-M1.

Luca marini (Honda HRC Castrol) confirms the progress of the Honda in 9th position, but Peter Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) curiously leads a trio of RC16s including Maverick Vinales (Red Bull KTM Tech3) is excluded, even though he has had the best performance on track for Mattighofen so far. It remains to be seen whether the number 12 confirms in Andalusia what we saw in Qatar, as, in the same vein, the performance of Fermin Aldeguer (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP), brilliant at Lusail…

We will also welcome the first wildcard ofAlex Espargaro (Honda HRC Test Team).

To write this fifth chapter of the 2025 MotoGP season, it will be necessary to cover the 14-meter track 4423 times during Saturday's Sprint and complete 25 laps on Sunday, on a track where all the records belong to Francis Bagnaia, except for the best maximum speed assigned to Johann zarco.

The Jerez circuit differs from the previous stages in its shorter length and is characterised by its two short straights and its triple right-hander leading to the final bend, a hairpin and the site of many controversial overtaking moves...
Overall, due to the powerful acceleration, heavy braking and lateral stresses, this technical track puts continuous demands on the tires.
Although asphalt is not considered particularly abrasive, the series of curves and the absence of long rest periods therefore place high demands on the tires, prompting Michelin to introduce, last season, a new, slightly harder rubber compound for the front wheel.

This is the 39th consecutive year that a GP has been held at Jerez since its debut in 1987. With two GPs in 2020, this will be the 40th GP at the circuit. Assen is the only current venue to hold more GPs in a row: 71 successive events from 1949 to 2019.

Among the current full-time MotoGP riders, Marc Marquez (3, in 2014, 2018, 2019) and Francis Bagnaia (3, in 2022, 2023, 2024) hold the most wins, ahead of fabio quartararo (2, in 2020/1, 2020/2) and Jack Miller (1, in 2021)

10 current riders have reached the podium in MotoGP,  Marc Marquez (8) Francesco Bagnaia (4) Maverick Vinales (3) fabio quartararo (3) Jack Miller (2) Johann zarco (1) alex rins (1) Franco Morbidelli (1) Brad Binder (1) et Marco Bezzecchi (1).
3 of them have already started in pole position, fabio quartararo (4) Marc Marquez (2) Francis Bagnaia (1).

The records are set in 1'36.025 (Francesco Bagnaia) since 2024, and 300,8 km/h for the speed per Johann zarco since 2021.

At the last edition in 2024, Francesco Bagnaia won the GP in front of Marc Marquez et Marco Bezzecchias Jorge Martin, Pedro Acosta et Dani Pedrosa climbed onto the Sprint podium.

For the fifth round of a 22-round season, we can count on unfailing sunshine, including Monday, the day of the test!

On the pilot side, Augusto Fernandez is still in the Pramac box on the motorcycle of Miguel Oliveira, while Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia Racing) will return to service after a too brief interlude... while George Martin is only expected in Spain on Saturday, finally back from Qatar.

This morning, besides the fact thatAlex Marquez was the fastest in FP1 as he did last year, it is interesting to note that on this circuit without a long straight the Yamaha and Honda are clearly in the provisional top 10, while at KTM, only Maverick Vinales seems at the moment to be able to get the most out of the RC 16.

Results of FP1 of the 2025 MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix, in Jerez: 

While waiting to discover more, as the 23 drivers prepare for this 60-minute pre-qualifying session, under a clear sky and temperatures of 25° in the air and 40° on the ground, let's enjoy these few moments of live coverage thanks to the official website MotoGP.com :

Here is a table that summarizes the known facts:

MotoGP™ Jerez, Spain

2024

2025
FP1 1'36.630 Alex Marquez (See here) 1'36.831 Alex Marquez (See here)
Practice 1'36.025 Francesco Bagnaia (See here) 1'35.991 Alex Marquez (See here)
FP2 1'48.183 Marc Marquez (See here) (See here)
Q1 1'47.887 Franco Morbidelli (See here) (See here)
Q2 1'46.773 Marc Marquez (See here) (See here)
Sprint Martin, Acosta, Pedrosa (See here) (See here)
Warm Up 1'37.943 Alex Marquez (See here) (See here)
Course Bagnaia, Marc Marquez, Bezzecchi (See here) (See here)
All time lap record 1'36.025 Francesco Bagnaia 2024 (See here) 1'35.991 Alex Marquez (See here)

When the red lights go out... Marc and Alex Marquez are the first to set off, Fabio Quartararo and Augusto Fernandez the last.

In terms of tires, we start with new tires.

At the end of the first round, Raul fernandez registered 1'37.778, quickly replaced at the top of the table by Alex and Marc Marquez, the cadet scoring 1'37.242.

In his fourth flying lap, Marc Marquez signs up 1'37.204 but his brother Alex makes a mistake in the fast turn #5.

His motorcycle damages an airfence and the session is interrupted after less than 10 minutes.

At this point, the hierarchy consists of Marc Márquez, Alex Márquez, Fabio Quartararo, Joan Mir, Raul Fernandez, Francesco Bagnaia, Franco Morbidelli, Maverick Viñales, Aleix Rins and Marco Bezzecchi, Luca Marini, Fermin Aldeguer, Pedro Acosta, Brad Binder, Johann Zarco, Jack Miller, Ai Ogura, Augusto Fernandez, Fabio Di Giannantonio, Lorenzo Savadori, Enea Bastianini, Somkiat Chantra and Aleix Espargaro.

Upon resumption, Jack Miller moves up to seventh place, Franco Morbidelli to the third, Peter Acosta in the ninth, Brad Binder in the seventh.

Marc Márquez, he also improves by posting 1'37.157 at the top of the table, then it is the turn of fabio quartararo to take command in 1'37.071.

With 40 minutes to go until the checkered flag, everyone returns to the pits while the top 10 is made up of Fabio Quartararo, Marc Márquez, Alex Márquez, Franco Morbidelli, Pedro Acosta, Jack Miller, Joan Mir, Raul Fernandez, Brad Binder and Francesco Bagnaia.

Francis Bagnaia leaves with a new rear tire and is positioned second, 25/1000 behindThe Devil.

Johann zarco fitted a new soft rear tire and jumped from 16th to first place, in 1'37.060!

It doesn't last long because immediately Pedro Acosta et Brad Binder immediately do better, themselves overtaken by fabio quartararo in 1'36.847!

Brad Binder made a minor mistake at turn 9.

Once halfway through the session, Marc Márquez is positioned 2nd, still with his medium rear tire of 15 laps, 0,126s behind the Frenchman.

Ai Ogura, who often takes his time, rises to sixth place, while Maverick Vinales, brilliant in Qatar, is positioned 2nd.

New general passage to the box with this time a top 10 made up of Fabio Quartararo, Maverick Viñales, Marc Márquez, Pedro Acosta, Brad Binder, Johann Zarco, Ai Ogura, Francesco Bagnaia, Alex Márquez and Franco Morbidelli, but we can see that nothing has been established and the last quarter of an hour is likely to be lively...

Everyone leaves with new tires, Fabio Quartararo the first, who improved his best time in the first three sectors but made a minor mistake in the fourth.

The yellow flag came out briefly, but did not interfere Francis Bagnaia who achieved the best time, immediately beaten by Franco Morbidelli in 1'36.336. Marc Márquez takes over in 1'36.258 whileAlex Marquez goes back to 3th.

10 minutes before the flag drops, the top 10 is made up of Marc Márquez, Franco Morbidelli, Alex Márquez, Francesco Bagnaia, Fermin Aldeguer, Marco Bezzecchi, Pedro Acosta, Fabio Quartararo, Jack Miller and Joan Mir.

The last visit to the garage to fit a new set of tires allows us to notice that only Alex Marquez used a medium rear to achieve his best time.

Fabio DiGiannantonio enters the top 10 in fifth position, Francis Bagnaia takes the lead in 1'36.094, Johann zarco goes back to 5th, Jack Miller makes a mistake in turn #9, Raul fernandez in #6.

There are three minutes left...

Ai Ogura fall in the same bend as his teammate then Alex Marquez breaks the absolute circuit record in 1'35.991!

The falls continue, this time with Joan Mir, still at turn #6, while Marc Marquez is making a nice heat in his last attempt.

This time, we'll leave it at that, after a final quarter of an hour of madness!

Alex Márquez, Francesco Bagnaia, Franco Morbidelli, Marc Márquez, Fabio Quartararo, Fermin Aldeguer, Johann Zarco, Pedro Acosta, Fabio Di Giannantonio and Joan Mir are therefore pre-qualified directly for Q2 and will share the first four rows of the starting grid.

See you tomorrow at 10 p.m. for FP2 and then qualifying!

Results of the 2025 MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix Practice in Jerez: 

 Classification credit: MotoGP.com

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