Marc Márquez opened the weekend with the fastest time in the morning session before placing second in the afternoon. The order on the timing screens, however, is not his main concern. For Márquez, the more important target is to build a pace stronger than Marco Bezzecchi’s, with the Italian emerging as the clearest reference from the sessions. Márquez described the day as positive after changing the team’s approach during the afternoon and finding his rhythm again in the closing part of the running.

His progress was interrupted by a mechanical problem. With roughly 25 minutes remaining in pre-qualifying, the chain broke suddenly through the circuit’s final corners. Márquez then pushed the motorcycle back to the pits. He regarded the timing of the failure as a positive factor because it happened during practice, and said he trusted his team to put the bike right for the rest of the weekend. The incident did not alter his broadly encouraging assessment of the opening day.

The front row remains the priority

Márquez wants to qualify on the front row, with the second row the furthest acceptable outcome. He considers grid position especially important in MotoGP, although the early classification does not necessarily show who has the strongest race performance. He identified Fabio Di Giannantonio and, above all, Bezzecchi as the two fastest riders. Bezzecchi was particularly effective with the medium rear tyre, while Márquez also rated the riding of Jorge Martín and Francesco Bagnaia highly.

Ai Ogura and Raúl Fernández were included in the group Márquez expects to remain close to the leaders. He believes Martín is drawing strength from the championship battle and expects him to stay competitive throughout the weekend. Bezzecchi faces a more complicated situation: he has to attack for victories, but cannot afford further mistakes. That is why Márquez places greater value on having the better pace than on simply ending the day ahead of his rival. The decisive comparison, in his view, will be sustained performance rather than a single session’s order.