Marc Márquez was the fastest in the first free practice session of the Portuguese MotoGP Grand Prix. This morning’s session in Portimão was lively, with a great balance and constant changes in the timing table. Competing at home, Miguel Oliveira started with an encouraging eighth place.
In the initial phase of the session, the lead belonged to Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM), until on the third flying laps the Australian dropped to sixth and Jorge Martín (Prima Pramac/Ducati) reached the top of the standings. Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team/Ducati) was second. Not long after, Miller returned to the top.
These initial minutes were dynamic, with many changes in the timing table. Álex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha) led at the end of the first quarter of an hour, with Bezzecchi in second also overtaking Miller… as did, shortly after, Augusto Fernández (Red Bull GasGas Tech3/KTM) to place third.
29 minutes before the end, two-time champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) set the third fastest time for a few moments, before Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) improved to take first place. The Frenchman was overtaken by former teammate Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac/Ducati). With 25 minutes remaining, Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GasGas Tech3/KTM) set the pace: he was the first to lap in the 1m41s and beat Morbidelli by almost half a second.
In the second half of the session, Miller regained the lead by being 14 thousandths of a second faster than Acosta. This was a phase of many improvements in times, with Acosta dropping to fifth place: he was also overtaken by Rins, Maverick Viñales (Aprilia), and Álex Márquez (Gresini/Ducati).
Less than a quarter of an hour was left on the clock when Oliveira (Trackhouse Racing/Aprilia) was in the lead of the table for a few seconds, before being beaten by Marc Márquez (Gresini/Ducati). The Spanish rider was the first to lap in the 1m40s, as did other riders afterwards… including Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) and Viñales, who surpassed him less than two minutes before the end to take the first two positions.
But the best was saved for last. Marc Márquez made a strong final lap to definitively return to the lead, with a time of 1m40.484s. Viñales was second at 0.165s, followed by Binder and Miller. Morbidelli closed the top five ahead of Martín and Rins. Oliveira finished in eighth position, 0.623s off the top. Bagnaia was 13th, 0.805s behind Marc Márquez.
