Márquez maintains FP1 time and leads Honda one-two in Portugal
On a very rainy Friday at the Portimão circuit, Marc Márquez was the fastest on the first day of free practice for the Portuguese MotoGP GP. The Honda rider set a time of 1min50s666 in the first practice of the day, remaining unreachable until the end of the day.
Even with a little more water on the asphalt in the second practice, his teammate Pol Espargaró was 0s041 of his time after being the fastest in FP2. Besides him, only Andrea Dovizioso and Franco Morbidelli improved their times in the second test of the day. However, both were far behind, at 14th and 18th on aggregate, respectively.
Joan Mir took third place, with Marco Bezzecchi – despite a crash in FP2 – fourth. The top 5 was closed by Johann Zarco, who also dropped out at the end of the second session.
Miguel Oliveira was sixth, with Maverick Viñales seventh, Jorge Martín eighth and Francesco Bagnaia and Jack Miller rounding out the top 10 that came straight into Q2 at the time.
World leader, Enea Bastianini did not do well on this first day of training, and was only in 16th place in aggregate time.
With Lorenzo Savadori this weekend, the MotoGP grid will have 25 Italian bikes at the Portuguese GP.
MotoGP qualifying is scheduled for 10:10 am on Saturday.
1. Marc Marquez / Repsol Honda (RC213V)
2. Pol Espargaro / Repsol Honda (RC213V)
3. Joan Mir / Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)
4. Marco Bezzecchi / Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP21)
5. Johann Zarco / Pramac Ducati (GP22)
6. Miguel Oliveira / Red Bull KTM (RC16)
7. Maverick Vinales / Aprilia Factory (RS-GP)
8. Jorge Martin / Pramac Ducati (GP22)
9. Francesco Bagnaia / Ducati Lenovo (GP22)
10. Jack Miller / Ducati Lenovo (GP22)
11. Alex Marquez / LCR Honda (RC213V)
12. Brad Binder / Red Bull KTM (RC16)
13. Luca Marini / Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22)
14. Andrea Dovizioso / WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1)
15. Remy Gardner / KTM Tech3 (RC16)
16. Enea Bastianini / Gresini Ducati (GP21)
17. Takaaki Nakagami / LCR Honda (RC213V)
18. Franco Morbidelli / Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)
19. Aleix Espargaro / Aprilia Racing (RS-GP)
20. Fabio Quartararo / Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)
21. Alex Rins / Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)
22. Raul Fernandez / KTM Tech3 (RC16)
23. Fabio Di Giannantonio / Gresini Ducati (GP21)
24. Darryn Folder / With U Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1)
25. Lorenzo Savadori / Aprilia Test Rider (RS-GP)