The best time on Friday was not a flash in the pan for Enea Bastianini, because he will start from pole position in the two races valid for the Portuguese MotoGP Grand Prix which will be held on the Portimao circuit.
The track was not yet in optimal conditions after Thursday's rain and did not allow the track record to be attacked, but the time of 1'37″706 allowed “Beast” to take a pole position which he had been missing since 2022 Austrian Grand Prix, over 500 days ago. A truly long fast for a rider with his talent, who however this year seems to have started off on the right foot to try to hold on to the official Ducati also in 2025.
The Borgo Panigale manufacturer therefore celebrates its 90th pole position in the premier class, but Maverick Vinales and Aprilia managed to deny it the possibility of occupying the entire front row. In fact, just as time expired, the driver from Roses showed off a great lap, battling it out on the edge of a thousandths with Bastianini in every sector, but closing with a gap of 82 at the finish line. Not bad for him, who is still struggling with an annoying gastroenteritis, which however hasn't managed to slow him down.
As mentioned, Ducati was close to scoring a hat-trick, because Jorge Martin's Desmosedici GP24 completes the front row, with the Prima Pramac Racing rider having seen his first run time canceled for going over the track limits at the last corner. However, the Madrilenian made up for it in the decisive time attack, managing to jump ahead of world leader Pecco Bagnaia, who had to settle for fourth fastest, 216 thousandths behind his teammate.
Lots of Ducati also in the second row, because Marco Bezzecchi has that of the Pertamina Enduro VR46 in sixth position, demonstrating that the feeling is slowly blossoming even with that GP23 which for now had been quite indigestible for him. Between the two Desmosedici GPs, however, a revived Jack Miller slipped in, who on the ups and downs of the Algarve seems to have put behind him the problems that had slowed down his KTM in the pre-season and in Qatar.
Among the ranks of the Austrian brand, rookie Pedro Acosta once again deserves applause, who placed seventh on one of the most technical tracks of the World Championship. But not only because, having passed from Q1, he only had one tire available for Q2, but he was able to make the most of it. Also better than Brad Binder who, also thanks to a fall at turn 5, was unable to do better than the tenth time.
Just as a fall complicated Marc Marquez's qualifying. The Gresini Racing rider crashed at turn 15 on his first flying lap, losing his favorite Ducati and also a lot of time (he had to change his suit). Returning to the track only at the end, he set the eighth fastest time, 441 thousandths of a second from pole. A result that could complicate a weekend that promised to be very interesting, because in terms of pace he gave the sensation of being one of the better placed ones.
This time Yamaha managed to get both of its M1s into Q2 starting on Friday, but when it was time to do the time attack the gap to the best remained quite wide, with Fabio Quartararo in ninth over six tenths of a second. and Alex Rins who finds himself 11th at almost eight. The picture of the first four rows is then completed with Alex Marquez's Ducati Gresini, who didn't even set a time after passing through Q1.
The fall he suffered in the final minutes of yesterday's afternoon session complicated Aleix Espargaro's plans quite a bit. The Aprilia rider, in fact, was the first of those excluded at the end of Q1 and this means that he will be forced to field his RS-GP in 13th position. Among other things, he didn't even play it, because in the end he found himself out by more than two tenths.
Next to him, on the fifth row, will be Fabio Di Giannantonio, who was 30 thousandths slower than the Spaniard on his Pertamina Enduro VR46 Ducati GP23. The Roman rider then precedes the other two Trackhouse Racing Aprilias, with local idol Miguel Oliveira just ahead of Raul Fernandez's twin bike.
Compared to Qatar, we are starting to see some small progress for Franco Morbidelli too. The newcomer to Prima Pramac Racing, who missed the entire pre-season due to a head injury suffered in training right here in Portimao, will place his Ducati GP24 on the 17th place on the grid, but compared to Lusail he has reduced the gap significantly.
Which however cannot be said for the Hondas, which literally sank in the Algarve and occupy the last four positions on the starting grid, also behind Augusto Fernandez's GasGas Tech3. The best of the RC213Vs is that of Johann Zarco, who precedes Johann Mir, Takaaki Nakagami and Luca Marini who finds himself last again. However, what weighs heavily is the fact that the Japanese bikes saw themselves inflicted around a second of separation in Q1. Way too much.
Q2 ranking
Q1 ranking
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