BEZZECCHI LEADS ARAGON WARM-UP AS KTM RIDERS FINISH 2ND AND 4TH
30 Aug·
With the Aragon weekend in late August running on consistently hot conditions, riders faced a familiar challenge: very warm track temperatures that can complicate tyre choice. After Saturday’s sprint saw asphalt temperatures above 50°C contribute to a mixed tyre-strategy picture, the teams entered Sunday’s 10-minute warm-up looking for clearer answers over the 23-lap Grand Prix distance.
The warm-up was particularly useful for the Aprilia works riders. They focused on understanding how the Medium compound would behave, having gone with Soft tyres in the sprint—where Aleix Espargaro’s teammate? (as reported) Marco Bezzecchi and Martin finished third and fifth respectively. The session also doubled as a check for riders dealing with setbacks: Honda rider Luca Marini and VR46 Ducati’s Fabio Di Giannantonio had both crashed early on Saturday, while Di Giannantonio’s teammate? (as reported) Fabio Quartararo was forced to retire from the sprint after a Yamaha M1 engine issue.
At 9:40, all 22 riders went out on a track already heated by machinery. The field included replacements for injured riders Ai Ogura and Maverick Viñales, as well as Lorenzo Savadori (Trackhouse) and Pol Espargaro (Tech3). Savadori and Espargaro were among those active on different tyre specifications, with the Harley-powered entries running Dunlop race tyres rather than the Michelin options used by the rest of the grid.
KTM’s Pedro Acosta stood out for his pace despite a turbulent start to his Aragon campaign—he has already crashed twice this weekend. Acosta clocked 1:47.616 for his first flying lap, just under three tenths faster than Marc Marquez in third, with Quartararo still ahead of him. Even with those earlier falls, Acosta remained determined.
In the final running, the fight for second place drew the most attention. Marco Bezzecchi set a statement time under 1:47, while Marquez was about 0.7 seconds slower in third. Pol Espargaro, despite being fourth, was only a hundredth behind Marquez. Quartararo, Marini, Fernandez, Aldeguer, Zarco and Rins completed the top 10.
Not everything went smoothly for VR46: Di Giannantonio ended up down in P21, nearly two seconds off the pace, and Pecco Bagnaia was also outside the front group in 17th.