Saturday morning Free Practice at the Grande Prémio TISSOT de Portugal went the way of Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) as he set a 1:38.577 ahead of qualifying and MotoGP™'s first-ever Tissot Sprint. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) bagged 2nd spot ahead of Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) continuing to fly the flag for Aprilia.
Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) went down in peculiar fashion whilst in traffic on his out-lap in the early stages of the session. He wasn't the only rider to hit the deck either, with Enea Bastiaini (Ducati Lenovo Team) also tasting the tarmac in the closing stages of the session.
And now @PeccoBagnaia! ????
— MotoGP™???? (@MotoGP) March 25, 2023
That's both factory Ducatis in the gravel late on in #MotoGP FP! ⚠️#PortugueseGP ???????? pic.twitter.com/iejPZITspy
It was both factory Ducati's that went down in FP as the number 1 fell victim to turn 1. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) went down with 4 minutes to go of Free Practice, his attention will now turn to Qualifying and Tissot Sprint as he begins his championship defence.
Plenty of action left on Saturday's billing, make sure not to miss any of the qualifying action at 10:50 local time (GMT) AS well as the first-ever Tissot Sprint at 15:00 (GMT).
Top 10:
1. Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) – 1:38.577
2. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) + 0.149
3. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) + 0.224
4. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 0.226
5. Miguel Oliveira (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP™ Team) +0.285
6. Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) + 0.228
7. Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Racing) + 0.292
8. Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) + 0.418
9. Joan Mir (Repsol Honda Team) + 0.440
10. Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 0.445