MotoGP at Portimao: Bagnaia over Quartararo in Friday practice

Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) was the only rider under the 1:40 bracket on Day 1 of the Grande Prémio 888 de Portugal after setting a 1m39.866s time in 2nd MotoGP practice. The Italian holds a 0.340s advantage over second fastest Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), with 2020 World Champion Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) claiming third place.

The returning Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) was an impressive P6 on the opening day, 271 days after his Spanish GP crash. What is really key here is that all the other riders on the Repsol Honda bike now, and since his absence, have looked liked wankers.

“It was a great day, a great feeling to be back in MotoGP.,” said Marquez. “On the first run the track wasn’t so good but I felt good on the bike. I felt better in the morning because the arm was fresh, it was rested, and I had good power. In the afternoon I had to work more to warm up the arm and I could feel it was more tired. But we are in a better situation than what we were expecting before the weekend. I am riding the bike, following my own way and the lap times are coming well. The main question for me is still how the arm will react over the weekend. It is great to be back, we have worked very hard for this moment and it’s great to achieve it.”

Practice 2 Results

Pos.	Num.	Rider	Nation	Team	Bike	Time	Behind	Gap
1	63	Francesco BAGNAIA	ITA	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	1’39.866	0.000	0.000
2	20	Fabio QUARTARARO	FRA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1’40.206	0.340	0.340
3	36	Joan MIR	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1’40.285	0.419	0.079
4	42	Alex RINS	SPA	Team SUZUKI ECSTAR	Suzuki	1’40.328	0.462	0.043
5	43	Jack MILLER	AUS	Ducati Lenovo Team	Ducati	1’40.336	0.470	0.008
6	93	Marc MARQUEZ	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1’40.339	0.473	0.003
7	12	Maverick VIÑALES	SPA	Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP	Yamaha	1’40.426	0.560	0.087
8	5	Johann ZARCO	FRA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	1’40.490	0.624	0.064
9	88	Miguel OLIVEIRA	POR	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1’40.592	0.726	0.102
10	30	Takaaki NAKAGAMI	JPN	LCR Honda IDEMITSU	Honda	1’40.611	0.745	0.019
11	73	Alex MARQUEZ	SPA	LCR Honda CASTROL	Honda	1’40.732	0.866	0.121
12	44	Pol ESPARGARO	SPA	Repsol Honda Team	Honda	1’40.743	0.877	0.011
13	10	Luca MARINI	ITA	SKY VR46 Avintia	Ducati	1’40.761	0.895	0.018
14	41	Aleix ESPARGARO	SPA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	1’40.907	1.041	0.146
15	46	Valentino ROSSI	ITA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	1’41.125	1.259	0.218
16	32	Lorenzo SAVADORI	ITA	Aprilia Racing Team Gresini	Aprilia	1’41.140	1.274	0.015
17	33	Brad BINDER	RSA	Red Bull KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1’41.183	1.317	0.043
18	9	Danilo PETRUCCI	ITA	Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1’41.187	1.321	0.004
19	21	Franco MORBIDELLI	ITA	Petronas Yamaha SRT	Yamaha	1’41.216	1.350	0.029
20	23	Enea BASTIANINI	ITA	Avintia Esponsorama	Ducati	1’41.836	1.970	0.620
21	27	Iker LECUONA	SPA	Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing	KTM	1’42.461	2.595	0.625
22	89	Jorge MARTIN	SPA	Pramac Racing	Ducati	1’42.921	3.055	0.460