Practice report

MotoGP Portuguese GP: Bastianini tops FP2, Marquez has first Ducati crash

Ducati’s Enea Bastianini topped second practice for the MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix, as Marc Marquez registered his first race weekend crash on the Gresini Ducati.

The dusty conditions that affected the morning session had improved significantly for second practice, with lap times improving by over 1.5 seconds.

Bastianini set the best pace on his factory team Ducati with a 1m38.057s, leading the way by 0.118s from KTM’s Jack Miller.

Marquez completed the top three despite suffering his first race weekend crash of the year on the Gresini Ducati, the eight-time world champion sliding off at Turn 5 late on.

Jorge Martin was fourth on the Pramac Ducati from KTM’s Brad Binder, while both factory Yamahas delivered a shock to rookie sensation Pedro Acosta (Tech3 GasGas) by dumping him out of the top 10 and into Q1 for qualifying on Saturday.

VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi set the early pace in second practice at a 1m39.996s, before quickly giving way to team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio on a 1m39.936s.

Fabio Quartararo on the factory Yamaha then moved clear with a 1m39.199s, which stood as the reference lap over 20 minutes before Marc Marquez made his first trip to the top of the standings with a 1m39.110s just under half an hour in.

Martin and Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales – who was the first significant improver on fresh soft rubber - deposed Marquez over the next 10 minutes, but the Gresini rider found his way back to the top of the timesheets with a 1m38.629s with 18 minutes to go.

He followed this up with a 1m38.559s, before Bastianini produced a 1m38.057s with 12 minutes to go to end the day on top.

Watch: MotoGP: What we learned on Friday! | 2024 #PortugueseGP

Marquez was unable to fight to reclaim his place at the head of the field when he crashed at the start of his final run.

The Gresini rider got loose on the way into the downhill braking of Turn 5 and slid off, doing so moments after team-mate Alex Marquez crashed at Turn 14.

Marc Marquez held onto third despite this behind Miller – who took a tumble earlier in the session – and Bastianini.

Behind Martin and Binder came Bezzecchi, with Vinales, reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) and the Yamaha duo of Quartararo and Alex Rins rounding out the top 10.

The late improvement for the Yamaha pair meant Acosta missed a place in Q2 by just 0.039s, with the Tech3 rider 11th ahead of Di Giannantonio, Alex Marquez (Gresini) and Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro – who crashed in the closing stages of second practice at Turn 4.

Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli was another late crasher, which left him in 15th, while Takaaki Nakagami (LCR) was top Honda in 16th in a difficult session for the Japanese brand which also saw Luca Marini fall off his bike late on.

MotoGP Portuguese GP - FP2 results:

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	E. Bastianini Ducati Team	23	Ducati	21	1'38.057		171.965	341
2	J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	43	KTM	23	+0.118 1'38.175	0.118	171.758	346
3	M. Marquez Gresini Racing	93	Ducati	23	+0.153 1'38.210	0.035	171.697	343
4	J. Martin Pramac Racing	89	Ducati	25	+0.231 1'38.288	0.078	171.561	342
5	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	23	+0.330 1'38.387	0.099	171.388	343
6	M. Bezzecchi Team VR46	72	Ducati	25	+0.352 1'38.409	0.022	171.350	342
7	M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team	12	Aprilia	21	+0.354 1'38.411	0.002	171.346	346
8	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	1	Ducati	21	+0.484 1'38.541	0.130	171.120	342
9	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	20	+0.495 1'38.552	0.011	171.101	345
10	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	22	+0.503 1'38.560	0.008	171.087	342
11	P. Acosta Tech 3	31	KTM	24	+0.542 1'38.599	0.039	171.019	342
12	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	21	+0.578 1'38.635	0.036	170.957	339
13	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	20	+0.752 1'38.809	0.174	170.656	340
14	A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team	41	Aprilia	20	+0.755 1'38.812	0.003	170.651	342
15	F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing	21	Ducati	19	+0.825 1'38.882	0.070	170.530	337
16	T. Nakagami Team LCR	30	Honda	22	+0.905 1'38.962	0.080	170.392	338
17	M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team	88	Aprilia	22	+0.991 1'39.048	0.086	170.244	343
18	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	21	+0.991 1'39.048	0.000	170.244	349
19	J. Mir Repsol Honda Team	36	Honda	24	+1.062 1'39.119	0.071	170.122	340
20	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	21	+1.090 1'39.147	0.028	170.074	341
21	A. Fernandez Tech 3	37	KTM	23	+1.103 1'39.160	0.013	170.052	345
22	L. Marini Repsol Honda Team	10	Honda	20	+1.724 1'39.781	0.621	168.994	343
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