Marquez tops Lusail FP1 ahead of Bezzecchi and Martin

Marc Marquez was fastest in the first free practice session at Lusail, ahead of Marco Bezzecchi, who finished just 110 thousandths of a second behind. Fabio Di Giannantonio was third, 413 thousandths back, ahead of Pedro Acosta's KTM, while Francesco Bagnaia finished sixth.

Jorge Martin returned to the track after being declared medically fit and set the fifth-fastest time over 16 laps. He made a couple of mistakes under braking, but his pace was encouraging. He needs to check how his right wrist copes with a full race weekend.

Pre-qualifying takes place at 5:00 p.m. Italian time, deciding the ten direct entries to Saturday's Q2. The session runs under floodlights, where track temperature and grip differ from FP1. Only 18 riders are present after Yamaha decided not to travel to Qatar.