Bagnaia sets Friday MotoGP pace at Portimao, Marquez sixth

Factory Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia topped the second and final Friday MotoGP session at Portimao, as the returning Marc Marquez placed sixth.

There were drops of rain at the circuit in the lead-up to the session, but the surface was still much drier compared to FP1, allowing riders to go significantly quicker almost right away.

Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo took the early lead, and though many riders took turns out front over the next 20 minutes it was again the Frenchman who was first to dip below the 1m41s mark.

But times came down massively as the chequered flag approached and with three minutes left on the clock the 1m40s barrier was breached too, by Bagnaia’s 1m39.866s.

Quartararo was the only rider to join him in that margin, but came up 0.038s of dethroning the Italian right before the chequered flag fell.

Suzuki showed an unusual turn of single-lap pace as champion Joan Mir and Alex Rins took third and fourth place, albeit with both still over four tenths down on Bagnaia.

Bagnaia’s team-mate Jack Miller took fifth, with Marquez – who completed 18 laps – moving up the order with a wild lap at the chequered flag that was 0.473s off the top.

With Yamaha’s Maverick Vinales in seventh, Johann Zarco made it three Ducatis in the top eight, before pulling over after the chequered flag, with smoke pouring out of his Desmosedici.

Last year’s Portimao race winner Miguel Oliveira took ninth, and was the only KTM in the top 16.

A nasty crash for Takaaki Nakagami three minutes into FP2 continued an accident-filled start to the season for the LCR Honda team. The Japanese rider was thrown off his bike while going over the hill on the approach to Turn 1, and slid down the road, his leathers tattered and his right wrist having clearly taken a big knock.

High speed crash for @takanakagami30! 😱

The @lcr_team man is back on his feet, but holding his wrist! 😲#PortugueseGP 🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/338AIP1vzM

— MotoGP™🏁 (@MotoGP) April 16, 2021

Cradling his arm as he walked away from the site of the accident, Nakagami was taken to the medical centre for a check-up – but returned swiftly and emerged from the pits again in the final minutes of FP2 to place a standout 10th, right ahead of fellow Honda riders Alex Marquez and Pol Espargaro.

The only other rider to crash was Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, who briefly led with 10 minutes left on the clock but in the end was shuffled down to 14th.

Practice 2 Results