Bezzecchi blitzes Phillip Island record
It has been a hot start to the 2025 Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix as Marco Bezzecchi blitzed the lap record in Practice.
Bezzecchi stunned the MotoGP paddock by not only becoming the first ever rider to record a 1m26s time around Phillip Island, but smashing the previous benchmark.
The Aprilia rider’s 1:26.492 was eight tenths faster than the old lap record set by Jorge Martin in 2023.
In fact, Martin’s 1:27.246 would not have even been enough to secure a ticket to Q2 as the top 11 were all faster in an ominous sign of the hot pace on show.
Raul Fernandez was 0.291s away as best of the rest with Fabio Di Giannantonio, Fabio Quartararo and Alex Marquez completed the top five.
Australia’s Jack Miller showed solid pace early in the session, but dropped to 13th and missed the top 10 at the back end of the session.
Bezzecchi burst out of the gates by being the first into 1m27s window.
He was soon joined by Pedro Acosta, di Giannatonio, Johann Zarco and Quartararo, but they were still all the best part of two tenths away of the pace-setting 1:27.516.
Miller rose to as high as sixth after first 15 minutes as the start of the session was mostly clean, but Acosta got caught out by the Island.
The KTM young gun crashed at the Miller Hairpin, but was able to pick up his bike and continue with the session.
It took half an hour for a rider to beat Bezzecchi’s time with Fabio DI Giannantonio finding an extra 0.033s.
To the delight of the home crowd, Miller backed up his FP1 speed by shooting to second, coming within 0.023s of P1.
His next push lap was enough to get the job done, however, with a 1:27.406 pushing the #43 to the top.
But it was not for long, unfortunately, as Bezzecchi and Rins flew past that benchmark.
Leading the charge was Bezzecchi, who blitzed the lap record.
His 1:26.580 was a massive 0.426s clear of Rins, while Miller found himself third and eight tenths off the pace.
Quartararo first to join him in the esteemed 1m26s club, soon followed by Marquez and Di Giannantonio, but they were all more than three tenths away.
The significant step up in pace saw Miller fall to ninth and on the Q2 bubble.
The factory Ducatis were struggling without Marc Marquez around and his replacement Michele Pirro slid off at Miller Corner on an out lap.
Bagnaia also had a battle at that corner, going straight on, but stayed upright and utilised the run off.
Pol Espargaro made an important improvement to seventh as the leading KTM rider and hoped to push further, but ran wide at Doohan.
Fernandez improved well at the end to be best of the rest behind Bezzecchi in a boost for Trackhouse.
Meanwhile, Bezzecchi continued to push the limits and lowered the benchmark to 1:26.492.
Bagnaia only managed ninth, but still squeezed in ahead of Acosta, who kept Aldeguer out by 0.005s.
This sets the scene for FP2 and Qualifying, which takes place at 10.10 AEDT Saturday morning.
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