Vinales tops Portuguese MotoGP FP1, Marquez third quickest on return

Maverick Vinales led the way in the opening practice session for the Portuguese Grand Prix in Portimao, while Marc Marquez was third fastest in his first session for nine months.

The Algarve International Circuit offered up dicey conditions for the MotoGP riders in opening practice of the Portuguese GP weekend with damp patches littered around the track, meaning times failed to match the expected sub 1:40 times you would get from a fully dry venue.

The track dried progressively throughout the session though and allowed the pilots to continually lower the leading benchmark throughout, times going from nearly 12 seconds off the expected laptimes to only around four seconds down by the end.

Francesco Bagnaia’s name fired to the head of the timesheets at several points throughout, though he ultimately came up short as he was demoted down the order in the closing seconds of the test.

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All eyes though were on the returning Marquez, who ventured out early on to join in official MotoGP action for the first time since his Spanish GP crash nine months ago, the six-time premier class champion immediately mixing it with the front-running times in the tricky conditions.

He initially posted a few tentative efforts as he bedded himself back into the RC213-V, though soon enough his distictive on-the-edge riding style began to shine through as he gathered confidence on his machine seemingly meter-by-meter.

A late flurry of improvements in the closing minutes culminated in Vinales banging in a 1:42.127 to secure the overall fastest time at the death, just denying Suzuki’s Alex Rins who had just moved to the head of the standings moments earlier.

Marquez looked good to top FP1 on his comeback as he shot to the top of the times on his final flyer, though the former two riders ultimately spoiled a fairytale return to competition for the Honda man, leaving him a still impressive third fastest.

Team-mate Pol Espargaro ended up fourth just ahead of Pramac Racing’s Johann Zarco, while Bagnaia was shuffled back to sixth by the end.

Doha GP victor Fabio Quartararo was seventh fastest ahead of Jack Miller, while LCR Honda’s Alex Marquez and Tech 3 KTM’s Danilo Petrucci completed the top ten.

Valentino Rossi ended up 11^th overall ahead of Petronas SRT team-mate Franco Morbidelli in 14^th, reigning MotoGP world champion Joan Mir starting the weekend off the pace down in 13^th.