Marco Bezzecchi opened MotoGP race day at Misano with the fastest time in the ten-minute warm-up, putting Aprilia’s special white livery at the top of the timesheets on its debut. Bezzecchi was 0.376 seconds clear of Marc Marquez, while Diogo Moreira, Fermin Aldeguer and Fabio Quartararo completed the top five.

The session continued a closely fought weekend. Bezzecchi and Marquez have traded the top spot in every session except Q1: Marquez led FP1, Bezzecchi Practice, Marquez FP2, Bezzecchi qualifying, Marquez the Sprint and Bezzecchi the warm-up. Bezzecchi switched from the soft rear used in the Sprint to a medium. Marquez and championship leader Jorge Martin had already used the medium rear in the Sprint, finishing first and third respectively. Every rider except Jack Miller ran a medium rear in the warm-up, while Marquez was one of the few to use a soft front. Martin was 20th.

Marquez’s Sprint victory moved him to within 14 points of Martin. Bezzecchi is third, 22 points behind the leader, leaving all three in contention to head the standings on Sunday evening. Marquez passed Bezzecchi at turn one and kept the factory Ducati behind him, while Martin recovered from fifth on the grid to finish third. Pedro Acosta missed roughly half of the warm-up while his mechanics repaired a front brake cover.

Special liveries and race-day complications

Aprilia’s white design draws inspiration from the racing suit Gilles Villeneuve wore for his 1981 Monaco Formula 1 Grand Prix victory and carries the Piaggio Vespa logo on its sleeve. Gresini is also running a white livery: a replica of Marco Simoncelli’s “San Carlo” Honda MotoGP design from 2010 and 2011.

Franco Morbidelli must serve a long-lap penalty in the Grand Prix for slow riding on the racing line during Friday practice. Johann Zarco has a three-place grid penalty for the same offence in qualifying. Maverick Vinales is missing for a third consecutive event, with test rider Pol Espargaro taking his place at Tech3 KTM, while Ai Ogura is absent for a second event because of his hand injury. The official Misano best-lap record is Bezzecchi’s 1m 29.982s from 2026; the fastest race lap record is Francesco Bagnaia’s 1m 30.877s from 2024.