Mixed conditions awaited the main class for the opening Free Practice 1, with a session declared wet-dry, meaning that Enea Bastianini faced a drying track for his return on the RC16. While world champion Jorge Martin finally returned to action after his Qatar Grand Prix injury, Bastianini adapted quite well to the Czech layout, which he was discovering on a MotoGP™ machine. The Italian was top KTM as he wrapped Free Practice 1 in the top 5 with a fastest in 1’55.598, an outcome that gave the number 23 a little boost of confidence heading to Practice. But then, torrential rains literally poured down, just minutes before Practice, red flagging Moto2™. Is it really summer in Brno? While the one-hour session was delayed by 20 minutes until the rain stopped, it was then a fully wet track awaiting Bastianini for the next hour. The Italian showed good form and it seems that a good setting was found, as we saw ‘Bestia’ enter the provisional top 10 with just half an hour left on the clock. The lap times continued to improve for Bastianini, as the Italian still sat in a provisional 6th place with a best in 2’04.878, 7 minutes to the end, while Marc Marquez led the way with a 2’03.935. Towards the end, while the grey clouds were gone and the sun shone again, we were left with a track with some dried parts, making the tire choice a bit trickier for the final time attacks. Enea did not improve, but his earlier lap was good enough to secure him the 8th place, his first Q2 ticket in orange KTM! It’s been a long time coming, but well done Enea, who'll be guaranteed to start from the first four rows on Saturday and Sunday.

Red Bull KTM Factory test rider Pol Espargaro filled in for absent Maverick Viñales, with the beloved number 44 making his first race weekend of the 2025 season. ‘Polyccio’ was eager to get some key track time to help the whole KTM project, and take the opportunity of this Czech Grand Prix to bring as much data as possible to the engineers, before heading to the summer break. Espargaro took the 15th time of the opening session in the morning, with a 1’56.617 (+2.011) being his fastest. In the afternoon, when the rain finally finished, the Spaniard hit the one hour Practice on a damp Brno track. A technical issue early into the session saw him head back quickly to the pit box to swap bikes, and then he was able to get on with his session. A 2'06.934 was his fastest halfway through the session, until the Spaniard managed to grab the back wheel of Francesco Bagnaia in his final run to improve to a 2’05.752, which eventually gave him the 17th spot! Espargaro will have to go through pre-qualifying on Saturday morning, shortly after the final Free Practice 2 which will kick off the first Super Saturday in Brno, at 10:10 LT. Then you will not want to miss out on the first Tissot Sprint in the Czech Republic, at 15:00 (UTC+2), for 10 laps!