Marc Marquez tops the opening practice of Portuguese MotoGP

Marc Marquez dominated a wet first practise session for the Portuguese Grand Prix at Portimao, beating his competitors by over four tenths of a second.

Marquez seemed at ease in the slick conditions early on, moving to the front of the times with a 1:51.219s as the track started to dry out throughout the 45-minute test.

Later, he was relegated by Marco Bezzecchi of VR46 Ducati, but the Honda rider quickly overtook the Italian with a time of 1:51.041s.

With additional heavy rain likely before FP2 later Friday afternoon, a strong start in the first practise of the weekend was critical, especially with the weather forecast for Saturday still unknown.

Joan Mir was keen to increase his chances of qualifying for the pole shootout without having to compete in Q1 by going quickest by just 0.010s as the test came to a close, but Marquez reclaimed the lead by a commanding 0.375s with a strong 1:50.666s tour just seconds later, an effort that would not be beaten.

Mir held on to second place on his Suzuki ahead of Bezzecchi, while Pramac Ducati’s Johann Zarco improved late to take fourth place ahead of home hero Miguel Oliveria’s KTM.

Maverick Vinales finished sixth ahead of Jorge Martin for Aprilia, while Francesco Bagnaia slid to eighth in the last seconds after setting a time that was good enough for second only moments before.

In the end, Jack Miller finished eighth, thanks to an accident at Turn 8 midway through the session, which also caught out Luca Marini at the end of the test.

On his LCR Honda, Alex Marquez finished tenth, while teammate Takaaki Nakagami finished 15th as the only other rider to crash during the 45-minutes, the Japanese suffering a nasty-looking high-side at Turn 9 early on – albeit he walked away unharmed.

Yamaha suffered in the rainy conditions once again, with Fabio Quartararo finishing 18th, barely ahead of factory teammate Franco Morbidelli, and Andrea Dovizioso finishing 22nd on the third 2022-spec M1 operated by RNF Racing.

In 13th place, Remy Gardner of Australia displayed good speed on his Tech 3 KTM, almost edging championship leader Enea Bastianini’s Gresini-run Ducati.

MOTOGP PORTIMAO, PORTUGAL – FREE PRACTICE (1) RESULTS