The championship fight between Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin took its first step in Qatar, and both riders made it through to the direct Q2 places in Friday practice at the Lusail International Circuit. Pedro Acosta did not: the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider finished 14th and now has to go through Q1.

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Marquez was second for the Ducati Lenovo Team with a 1:50.548, just 0.142 seconds behind Fabio Di Giannantonio, who set a 1:50.406 that was quicker than the previous all-time best lap at the circuit, a 1:50.499 set by Marquez himself in 2024. The championship leader arrived in Qatar with 399 points, 44 clear of Martin on 355, and he is the one setting the tone at the front of the field.

Martin, who missed the Malaysian round after fracturing his wrist in a crash in the Australian Grand Prix Sprint, was seventh for Aprilia Racing with a 1:51.041, 0.635 seconds behind Di Giannantonio and 0.493 seconds behind Marquez. His return to the track kept him inside the top ten, the position he needed to secure a place in Q2 without going through Q1.

The gap between the two title rivals in Qatar is a measure of the challenge facing Martin. Marco Bezzecchi, his Aprilia teammate, was third on 1:50.666, 0.260 seconds off the top time and well clear of Martin, while Marquez's Ducati stablemate Francesco Bagnaia was fourth on 1:50.792. Raul Fernandez was fifth for Trackhouse on 1:51.014, and Enea Bastianini was sixth for Red Bull KTM Tech3 on 1:51.024, just seventeen thousandths of a second ahead of Martin.

The top ten was completed by Johann Zarco in eighth for Castrol Honda LCR on 1:51.301, Ai Ogura in ninth for Trackhouse on 1:51.318 and Brad Binder in tenth for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing on 1:51.409. Binder held on by only 0.038 seconds from Fermin Aldeguer, who was eleventh for BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP on 1:51.447, with Franco Morbidelli twelfth on 1:51.484 and Luca Marini thirteenth on 1:51.548.

The cruelest result belonged to Acosta. The KTM rider, who won the Malaysian Sprint and finished second in the Grand Prix, was 14th on 1:51.575, 1.169 seconds off the pace and 0.166 seconds from the top ten, and will have to fight through Q1 to reach Q2 and the front of the grid. Maverick Vinales was 15th, Lecuona 16th, Diogo Moreira 17th and Jake Dixon 18th.

Conditions were clear, with the air temperature at 30 degrees Celsius, the track at 31 and humidity at 66 percent.