Marquez sixth on return day as Bagnaia leads in Portugal

Francesco Bagnaia and Ducati led the way at the conclusion of Friday running for the Portuguese Grand Prix in Portimao, the Italian leading Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo.

The field continued where they left off from FP1 on a now dry Algarve International Circuit, the leading benchmark being whittled down bit by bit across the 45 minute test.

Quartararo led the way following the early running, the Frenchman managing a 1:41.309s after several stabs at a fast time.

Many of the lead riders enjoyed a period at the head of the timesheets during FP2, though it was ultimately Bagnaia that would stake his claim on the position with the only sub 1:40 time of the session-a 1:39.866s-at the death to lead Quartararo by a commanding 0.340s.

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Joan Mir put in a more competitive showing relative to his lowly 13^th in FP1 by ending Friday third overall just ahead of Suzuki team-mate Alex Rins, while Jack Miller completed the top five on the second factory Ducati.  

Marc Marquez continued to stun as he fired in a tour good enough for sixth overall at the end of his first day riding a MotoGP machine in nine months, the six-time premier class champion rounding off the day as fastest Honda to boot.

Maverick Vinales was seventh quickest on his Yamaha ahead of MotoGP championship leader Johann Zarco, while ’20 Portuguese GP victor Miguel Oliveira wrestled his KTM to ninth.

Takaaki Nakagami bravely completed the top ten on his LCR Honda despite a scary crash just a few minutes into the session at Turn 1.

The Japanese ace seemingly locked the front of his RC213-V as he grabbed the brakes just as he reached the braking point for Turn 1 on the steep crest that characterises the bend, sending him immediately sliding down the road from a near 200mph approach as his bike flipped through the gravel on the outside of the turn.

Nakagami walked away from the incident grasping his hand, facilitating a swift visit to the medical centre for checks.

He amazingly was able to return to the track as the session entered its final ten minutes before banging in a tour just 0.745 away from Bagnaia’s benchmark.

LCR team-mate Alex Marquez was the man to just miss out on an overnight top ten berth, with the second factory Honda of Pol Espargaro following just behind in 12^th.

Aleix Espargaro led the times with several minutes remaining but found himself unable to improve as others found greater speed, while a crash in the closing seconds saw him fall to 14^th overall by the end.

Petronas SRT’s tough start to 2021 continued at Portimao as both the Malaysian outfits Yamaha M1’s languished towards the bottom of the times, Valentino Rossi 16^th with Franco Morbidelli only 18^th.