Marco Bezzecchi made it directly into Q2 at the Austrian MotoGP, but the Aprilia rider left Friday’s Practice session knowing that the result could easily have gone the other way. He finished ninth, the final position inside the top 10 that avoids Saturday’s Q1, and was only the third-fastest Aprilia in the classification.

Bezzecchi’s late time attacks were affected by several mistakes. The session had already been interrupted by a red flag after Alex Marquez crashed unusually on the exit of Turn 1. When Practice resumed, Bezzecchi decided to use the same tyre from an earlier time attack that had ultimately been aborted. He later said that the choice, combined with one of his own errors, cost him rhythm during the closing stages.

“It was a good day overall, a good start of the weekend,” Bezzecchi said. He acknowledged that he had made “a couple of mistakes too much” in the time attack, while describing the pace and the work completed during the day as positive. Reaching Q2 had been the immediate target, although he admitted that he had risked missing it. He also credited his crew for helping him through the end of the session after the restart.

The ninth-place result did not entirely match Bezzecchi’s assessment of his potential. He considered his Aprilia’s potential comparable to that of Jorge Martin, his Aprilia Racing team-mate and joint points leader, who finished fifth and was only a tenth of a second behind second place. Bezzecchi therefore saw room for improvement without treating Friday’s pace as a fundamental problem.

Acosta sets the pace in Austria

The bigger gap, in Bezzecchi’s view, was to Pedro Acosta. The KTM rider was already extremely quick in the morning and improved again in the afternoon, making him the clear reference after the opening day. Brad Binder also finished ahead of Bezzecchi in eighth, confirming that KTM had strong pace at the circuit.

Bezzecchi identified Sector 2 as the main area where he was losing time and said the goal for Saturday was to move closer to Acosta. He described the margins behind the KTM rider as very tight, leaving scope for a step forward rather than suggesting that the Aprilia lacked outright speed. With qualifying still to come, his direct Q2 place provided a useful result but only a narrow safety margin after the late errors.

Tyre behaviour was another important part of Friday’s picture. Michelin brought a special heat-resistant rear tyre to Austria, with a harder construction than the regular option. Brad Binder had linked part of his improved speed to that tyre. Bezzecchi said its feel was similar to last year’s Austrian event despite temperatures being lower this time, but he found rear traction difficult to manage.

In particular, he said the centre of the rear tyre was the hardest area from which to find grip, both under acceleration and during straight-line braking. The overall feeling was not bad, but he still expected the team to improve. For Bezzecchi, Friday delivered the essential result—direct entry to Q2—while also showing how costly another mistake could be in a session where the final places were so closely contested.