It was an important Practice session with the top 10 riders earning their spot to go straight to Q2 on Saturday. After setting an early time attack, Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) set a blisteringly quick time to end Friday in first position. The Italian was ahead of Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) who ended the session 0.118 from the top spot, ending Friday in second. Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) crashed for the first time this season onboard the Ducati, with minutes left on the clock, however, the eight-time World Champion ended the day in a classy third.
On-form and on Beast mode 🔥@Bestia23 tops Practice! 👊#PortugueseGP 🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/09KHEQ4LhW
— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) March 22, 2024
The session began with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing at the top, first Miller and then his teammate Brad Binder. Miller had an eventful start to the session, crashing at turn five in the first 10 minutes of Practice. However, KTM’s thunder was soon stolen by Ducati as Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Ducati) had their go at taking the top spot as riders looked at getting an early banker lap.
It was a thrilling end to the session, with riders opting for a time attack, to claim their spot in Q2. However, as riders pushed for a lap time, Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) and Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) crashed within seconds of each other. This was followed by Franco Morbidelli (Prima Pramac Racing) and Luca Marini (Repsol Honda Team) minutes later. This left riders only a few minutes to improve, with Martin ending the session in fourth. The Spaniard was ahead of Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), who sneaked inside the top five in the closing minutes.
Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) ends Friday positively – finishing the day in sixth. The VR46 Academy rider was ahead of Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team). Fabio Quartararo was ninth ahead of his Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™ teammate, Alex Rins who rounds out the top 10 places. This leaves some big names to go through Q1 including Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GASGAS Tech3), Alex Marquez and Espargaro.
MotoGP™ will return to track for FP2 on Saturday at 10:10 local time (UTC) so make sure you keep up to date with all the action on motogp.com!
Top 10:
| 1 | Enea Bastianini (Ducati Lenovo Team) | 1:38.057 |
| 2 | Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) | +0.118 |
| 3 | Marc Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) | +0.153 |
| 4 | Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) | +0.231 |
| 5 | Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) | +0.330 |
| 6 | Marco Bezzecchi (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) | +0.352 |
| 7 | Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) | +0.354 |
| 8 | Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) | +0.484 |
| 9 | Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) | +0.495 |
| 10 | Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) | +0.503 |
FULL RESULTS: