MotoGP - Francesco Bagnaia returns! Best time in the first MotoGP free practice session at Motegi

Francesco Bagnaia has been reeling from one debacle to the next in recent weeks. However, the two-time MotoGP champion made an impressive comeback at Motegi , taking the fastest time in the first free practice session.

The result: Bagnaia was 0.093 seconds faster than the also-reinforced Jorge Martin in 1:44.857 minutes. Marc Marquez finished third, followed by Fabio Di Giannantonio, Luca Marini, and Franco Morbidelli. Pedro Acosta took P8 ahead of Jack Miller. Somkiat Chantra and Miguel Oliveira completed the top ten.

Marco Bezzecchi had to settle for eleventh place after two crashes. Alex Marquez couldn't get beyond 15th. FP1 was also difficult for Fabio Quartararo, finishing 16th.

Crashes, defects & incidents: After just a few minutes of FP1, the first crashes occurred. Raul Fernandez crashed at turn seven, and shortly afterward, Marco Bezzecchi was caught in the hard braking zone leading into turn 11.

With just under 19 minutes left in the session, Bezzecchi landed in the gravel again. This time he slid off the track in the slow turn five. Bezzecchi now had both bikes damaged and had to spend the rest of the first free practice session in the pits.

In the final stages, Franco Morbidelli and Jack Miller crashed independently of each other within seconds of each other in turn five. Enea Bastianini also crashed in turn 10 almost at the same time.

The weather: Motegi experienced late summer heat on MotoGP practice Friday. With only light cloud cover, the outside temperature reached 29 degrees Celsius and the track surface reached 40 degrees Celsius during FP1.