Portimao is one of the southernmost tracks in Europe and you expect to always find heat and sun, but the Portuguese MotoGP Grand Prix weekend didn't start exactly like that. The riders of the premier class, in fact, found themselves dealing with a very dirty track due to the mixed rain and sand that fell during the night.
The result is that the 45 minutes of the first free practice session were mainly used to try to clean up the asphalt of the ups and downs of the Algarve, essentially denying the possibility of finding useful technical indications, given that the times in the end were over three seconds higher than the pole position achieved 12 months ago by Marc Marquez, which is also worth the current record.
At the checkered flag it was the eight-time world champion who lined up everyone for the first time in the dry since he switched to riding a Ducati (he had also done it in Qatar, but in the session in the rain). The new Gresini Racing standard bearer set a time of 1'40″484, 165 thousandths ahead of Maverick Vinales' Aprilia. The latter was shown inside the garage wearing a mask, but the Noale manufacturer explained that during the night he only had a strong attack of gastroenteritis and that the situation is returning. His second half actually seems to be a confirmation of this.
In third and fourth place are the two KTMs of Brad Binder and Jack Miller, two and three tenths behind respectively. This shouldn't be surprising in the slightest, given that we're talking about two specialists in treacherous conditions, when the track is particularly slippery, who have done nothing but reiterate it for the umpteenth time.
The happy note of this FP1 is Franco Morbidelli's fifth fastest time. A good sign for the newcomer to Prima Pramac Racing, who is still discovering Ducati after being forced to miss all winter testing. Among other things, it is also a good way to exorcise the accident that occurred here last February while he was training on a Panigale V4, which caused him the head injury that forced him to stop.
The Italian rider precedes his teammate Jorge Martin, fourth at 422 thousandths, who slipped ahead of the Yamaha of Alex Rins and the Aprilia of local idol Miguel Oliveira. The top 10 is then completed with the other Ducati Gresini entrusted to Alex Marquez and with Joan Mir, who is the first among the Honda riders, followed closely by Fabio Quartararo's M1.
World championship leader Pecco Bagnaia took particular care to stay out of trouble, settling for 13th place at around eight tenths with his Ducati, also behind the Pertamina Enduro-branded Ducati brought to the track by Fabio Di Giannantonio. A couple of positions further back there is the highly anticipated rookie Pedro Acosta, 14th in the wake of Augusto Fernandez's sister GasGas Tech3.
The other Italian drivers also lagged behind, with Marco Bezzecchi occupying 18th place, just ahead of Enea Bastianini. Penultimate time for Luca Marini's Honda, just under 1″4 and behind Aleix Espargaro's Aprilia, also further behind than expected, remembering however that it was a session that should not be too indicative of the values we will see in the rest of the weekend.
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