Fabio Di Giannantonio stole the spotlight at the MotoGP Grand Prix of Qatar on Friday, setting a new lap record at Lusail International Circuit to top the practice and put himself in contention ahead of Saturday’s Sprint.
The VR46 Racing Team rider produced a stunning lap of 1min 50.406sec under the floodlights, finishing 0.142 seconds ahead of championship leader Marc Marquez of Ducati. Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi was third as the Italian manufacturer showed impressive pace, with Francesco Bagnaia of Ducati fourth.
Di Giannantonio’s performance was particularly impressive given his recent struggles with straight-line speed. The Italian had revealed on Thursday that he was losing around 10kph compared to the factory Ducati machines, a deficit that has hampered his performances in recent races. VR46 team boss Pablo Nieto admitted the problem was significant, estimating that the speed difference could amount to approximately 30 horsepower.
Despite the apparent disadvantage, Di Giannantonio made the most of his Ducati package, steadily climbing the timesheets before delivering the fastest lap of the evening. His record-breaking effort also underlined the competitiveness of the VR46 rider, who has struggled to maintain consistency in recent Grands Prix.
Di Giannantonio, however, described his feelings as 'bittersweet' despite topping the timesheets. “Bittersweet feeling, honestly,” the Italian said. “Super happy for the lap but a bittersweet feeling because we saw that we could have done some mistakes here and there in the last GPs. As you can see from this morning, like my pace was clearly off the pace, two seconds off Marc and a lot of people. And then suddenly we came back with a great feeling.”
Marquez, meanwhile, endured a disrupted session after suffering a chain failure on his Ducati GP26 with just under 30 minutes remaining. The Spaniard was forced to return to the pits, interrupting his second run, but was soon back on track with 18 minutes left.
He briefly moved to the top with the first sub-1min 51sec lap of the weekend, clocking 1:50.925, before Di Giannantonio responded with his record effort.
The second-place finish leaves Marquez well placed, but the reigning world champion knows that securing the 2026 title in Qatar will be no easy task. Marquez has his first opportunity to clinch an eighth MotoGP world championship this weekend. He needs to outscore Jorge Martin by 30 points and Bezzecchi by eight to seal the crown.
However, the strong pace shown by his rivals has made the task more complicated. “Championship is not done. I mean, still I feel that it’s far, especially because Bezzecchi, as we see, is pushing and riding in a very good way,” Marquez said.
“Nothing to lose; he will push all the weekend. Martin, even with his injury, he’s riding also in a good way. So, we must concentrate on our garage, try to do our job, and from that point, let’s see. But it will be a tricky weekend because many riders are fast,” he added.
Marquez was nevertheless satisfied with his opening day, despite the mechanical setback. “The feeling was good. This afternoon, it’s true that there are three, four riders who are very fast, very consistent. But I was able to ride in a good way, so we need to understand for tomorrow if we can improve in some areas,” he said.
Aprilia also enjoyed a productive evening, with Bezzecchi leading its charge in third and team-mate Martin finishing seventh.
Martin's performance was one of the biggest positives of the session. The Spaniard, who fractured a bone in his right wrist in a crash at Phillip Island two weeks ago, had struggled badly at Sepang last weekend and was forced to cut short his Friday running in Malaysia because of a lack of strength in his wrist.
However, he looked much more competitive in Qatar after being declared fit to race in the afternoon. He completed 19 laps and finished just over six-tenths of a second behind Di Giannantonio.
“I’m very proud of my job today. I wish I had this feeling in Malaysia honestly, because I'm able to race,” Martin said. “For sure I'm not fully recovered, but I feel much better. I can make laps together, I can be competitive. I feel that I lost all my feeling after that crash in Australia, and every lap I'm trying to build that feeling again. So it's more about that than the pain,” added the Spaniard.
Martin, who is seeking to keep his championship hopes alive, admitted that he was still working towards regaining his full feeling on the bike. He also indicated that adrenaline was helping him manage the discomfort in his injured wrist. Martin will need to score eight points this weekend to guarantee that Marquez cannot celebrate the title in Qatar.
Behind the leading trio, Bagnaia finished fourth, followed by Trackhouse Aprilia rider Raul Fernandez in fifth. Enea Bastianini was sixth, ahead of Martin, Johann Zarco, Ai Ogura and Brad Binder, who completed the top 10.
With less than two seconds separating the entire field, Friday's session suggested that qualifying and the Sprint could be closely contested.
Di Giannantonio has set the benchmark, but with Marquez chasing a historic eighth crown, Bezzecchi carrying Aprilia's challenge and Martin showing signs of recovery, the battle under the Lusail lights is far from settled.
