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

POS	RIDER	NAT	TEAM	TIME/DIFF	LAP	MAX
1	Marc Marquez	SPA	Repsol Honda (RC213V)	1’50.666s	17/17	331k
2	Joan Mir	SPA	Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)	+0.365s	17/17	328k
3	Marco Bezzecchi	ITA	Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP21)*	+0.470s	10/16	330k
4	Johann Zarco	FRA	Pramac Ducati (GP22)	+0.504s	19/19	333k
5	Miguel Oliveira	POR	Red Bull KTM (RC16)	+0.557s	8/20	326k
6	Maverick Viñales	SPA	Aprilia Racing (RS-GP)	+0.643s	18/18	331k
7	Jorge Martin	SPA	Pramac Ducati (GP22)	+0.677s	15/19	327k
8	Francesco Bagnaia	ITA	Ducati Lenovo (GP22)	+0.721s	17/19	331k
9	Jack Miller	AUS	Ducati Lenovo (GP22)	+0.771s	5/13	331k
10	Alex Marquez	SPA	LCR Honda (RC213V)	+0.982s	17/20	333k
11	Brad Binder	RSA	Red Bull KTM (RC16)	+0.993s	8/18	327k
12	Luca Marini	ITA	Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22)	+1.043s	17/18	326k
13	Remy Gardner	AUS	KTM Tech3 (RC16)*	+1.154s	15/18	323k
14	Enea Bastianini	ITA	Gresini Ducati (GP21)	+1.181s	11/16	330k
15	Takaaki Nakagami	JPN	LCR Honda (RC213V)	+1.215s	7/14	331k
16	Aleix Espargaro	SPA	Aprilia Racing (RS-GP)	+1.292s	17/17	330k
17	Pol Espargaro	SPA	Repsol Honda (RC213V)	+1.335s	19/20	332k
18	Fabio Quartararo	FRA	Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)	+1.395s	17/18	323k
19	Franco Morbidelli	ITA	Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)	+1.406s	8/19	321k
20	Alex Rins	SPA	Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR)	+1.413s	19/20	330k
21	Raul Fernandez	SPA	KTM Tech3 (RC16)*	+1.592s	16/18	321k
22	Andrea Dovizioso	ITA	WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1)	+1.620s	14/17	325k
23	Fabio Di Giannantonio	ITA	Gresini Ducati (GP21)*	+2.215s	16/17	324k
24	Darryn Binder	RSA	WithU Yamaha RNF (YZR-M1)*	+3.363s	18/18	324k
25	Lorenzo Savadori	ITA	Aprilia Test Rider (RS-GP)	+3.594s	9/15	326k