Marc Marquez, the latest addition to the Gresini Ducati team, demonstrated his dominance in the opening practice session of the MotoGP event in Portimão. Despite the track conditions being dry but dirty, Marquez managed to complete 18 laps and set the fastest lap time of 1.40.484s.
Maverick Vinales from Aprilia came in second place, trailing Marquez’s time by less than two-tenths of a second. The factory KTM duo of Brad Binder and Jack Miller followed closely behind in third and fourth place respectively.
Franco Morbidelli initially topped the timesheets but dropped to fifth place later in the session. His teammate Martin finished one place behind him in sixth. Both Yamaha riders showed improvement from their previous struggles in Qatar, with Alex Rins finishing seventh and Quartararo in eleventh place.
The home nation’s favorite, Miguel Oliveira, delivered an impressive performance to secure eighth place. Alex Marquez, Marquez’s brother and Gresini partner, finished in ninth place, although with a significant gap between him and his brother.
Joan Mir, the 2020 champion, completed the top 10 and brought some much-needed positivity to the Repsol Honda team after a series of changes during the winter break.
However, the reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia struggled and ended up in 13th place with his Ducati. Enea Bastianini also faced difficulties adapting to the track conditions and finished 19th.
In a surprising turn of events, Aleix Espargaro slumped to 20th position on his Aprilia, surpassing the Honda-backed pair of Luca Marini and Takaaki Nakagami.
Rookie sensation Pedro Acosta finished in 15th place, just behind his teammate Augusto Fernandez, as he aims to replicate his successful debut in Qatar.