Marc Marquez lays down wet weather marker in FP1

Repsol Honda Team's Marc Marquez sent out a serious warning shot to his title rivals in the opening session of the Tissot Grand Prix of Portugal by clinching top spot in difficult conditions. The Spaniard is widely regarded as the master of tough, low-grip conditions and he held on to that title thanks to his 1:50.666, which put him well over three tenths clear of Team Suzuki Ecstar's Joan Mir in second.

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Arguably the performance of the morning came courtesy of Mooney VR46 Team rookie Marco Bezzecchi, who threw in a 1:51.136 to sit third in the standings. Half a second adrift of the factory Honda man was Pramac Racing's Johann Zarco in fourth. Home hero Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) gave the rather cold and rather damp fans in attendance a welcome boost by starting the weekend in fifth.

Making sure we had five factories inside the top six places was Aprilia's Maverick Viñales. The Spaniard ending up just over six tenths shy of the fastest lap of the session, placing him sixth on the timesheets. No fewer than five Ducati machines sat inside the top ten thanks to the effort of Pramac Racing's Jorge Martin and the Ducati Lenovo Team duo of Francesco Bagnaia and Jack Miller, who sat seventh, eighth and ninth. Miller clinched ninth despite a gentle tumble at Turn 8. Completing the top ten was LCR Honda Castrol's Alex Marquez, just under a second behind older brother Marc.

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Our first faller of the weekend was Alex Marquez's teammate Takaaki Nakagami, who suffered a nasty highside on the exit of Turn 9. Mooney VR46's Luca Marini also crashed out in the closing moments, the Italian finding the gravel trap at Turn 8.

Next time we'll see the premier class out on track will be at 15:10 local time (GMT+1) later this afternoon. Join us then for Free Practice 2, where hopefully the rain will have subsided slightly.