Practice report

MotoGP Portuguese GP: Marquez tops opening practice in dusty conditions

Gresini Ducati rider Marc Marquez topped the opening practice session for the MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix as sandy conditions affected the Algarve track.

Heavy overnight rain left the Portuguese circuit covered in sand and dust for the start of Friday’s track action, with the first Moto3 practiced red-flagged and then canned due to the conditions.

Things improved enough for the first Moto2 session to run to schedule, followed by the the opening 45-minute practice for the MotoGP class .

However, lap times were over three seconds off the lap record from last year, leading to a largely unrepresentative session.

Marquez, two weeks on from a solid Ducati debut, led the times after firing in a 1m40.484s on his final flying lap on his Gresini-run GP23.

The eight-time grand prix world champion sat atop the times at various points of FP1 as he continues his adaptation to the Ducati, with Marquez admitting coming into this weekend that he would be “starting from zero” again.

He led the way by 0.165 seconds from Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, who is carrying a mild illness into the Portuguese GP.

The factory KTM duo of Brad Binder and Jack Miller followed in third and fourth, while Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli completed the top five.

Miller set the initial pace in the session on his factory RC16 with a 1m46.870s, which was almost 10s off the pole time from last season at the Algarve International Circuit.

As the riders swept the dust off the racing line, lap times would fall, with the top spot changing hands frequently as a result.

Marquez’s 1m40.484s would end up as the fastest effort, with 1m37.226s the reference pole time from last year set by the Spaniard on a Honda.

Binder looked like he would end FP1 fastest of all having gone top in the final two minutes with a 1m40.689s, but was shuffled down by Marquez and Vinales.

Morbidelli completed the most laps of any rider at 21 at the circuit he suffered a nasty accident during a training session which led to the concussion that ruled him out of pre-season testing.

He headed Pramac team-mate Jorge Martin by 0.045s, with Alex Rins seventh for Yamaha from Trackhouse Aprilia’s Miguel Oliveira, the second Gresini Ducati of Alex Marquez and the factory Honda of Joan Mir.

Honda comes to Portugal with some new items to try following a private test earlier this week at Jerez with Luca Marini, as well as from recent running by Stefan Bradl at the Algarve circuit.

Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia was 13th on his factory Ducati, while Pedro Acosta was 15th on his Tech3 GasGas.

MotoGP Portuguese GP - FP1 results:

1 - 2
Cla	Rider	#	Bike	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Speed Trap
1	M. Marquez Gresini Racing	93	Ducati	18	1'40.484		167.811
2	M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team	12	Aprilia	17	+0.165 1'40.649	0.165	167.536
3	B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	33	KTM	22	+0.205 1'40.689	0.040	167.470
4	J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	43	KTM	17	+0.356 1'40.840	0.151	167.219
5	F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing	21	Ducati	21	+0.377 1'40.861	0.021	167.184
6	J. Martin Pramac Racing	89	Ducati	19	+0.422 1'40.906	0.045	167.109
7	A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing	42	Yamaha	19	+0.450 1'40.934	0.028	167.063
8	M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team	88	Aprilia	18	+0.623 1'41.107	0.173	166.777
9	A. Marquez Gresini Racing	73	Ducati	16	+0.635 1'41.119	0.012	166.757
10	J. Mir Repsol Honda Team	36	Honda	15	+0.706 1'41.190	0.071	166.640
11	F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing	20	Yamaha	20	+0.758 1'41.242	0.052	166.555
12	F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46	49	Ducati	16	+0.793 1'41.277	0.035	166.497
13	F. Bagnaia Ducati Team	1	Ducati	19	+0.805 1'41.289	0.012	166.478
14	A. Fernandez Tech 3	37	KTM	20	+1.047 1'41.531	0.242	166.081
15	P. Acosta Tech 3	31	KTM	19	+1.122 1'41.606	0.075	165.958
16	J. Zarco Team LCR	5	Honda	17	+1.188 1'41.672	0.066	165.850
17	R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team	25	Aprilia	18	+1.203 1'41.687	0.015	165.826
18	M. Bezzecchi Team VR46	72	Ducati	17	+1.231 1'41.715	0.028	165.780
19	E. Bastianini Ducati Team	23	Ducati	18	+1.244 1'41.728	0.013	165.759
20	A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team	41	Aprilia	16	+1.300 1'41.784	0.056	165.668
21	L. Marini Repsol Honda Team	10	Honda	17	+1.493 1'41.977	0.193	165.354
22	T. Nakagami Team LCR	30	Honda	17	+1.598 1'42.082	0.105	165.184
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