Newly-crowned MotoGP champion Fabio Quartararo completed a clean sweep of Friday practice sessions in the penultimate weekend of the 2021 campaign at Portimao.
Key moments
– Top three same as in the morning
– Espargaro heading the Hondas in Marquez’s absence
– Tough Friday for Oliveira
Again, Quartararo and main rival Francesco Bagnaia were the two riders well clear of the competition on the timing screens for much of the session, yet with four minutes to go it was last year’s champion Joan Mir who posted the first sub-1m40s effort of the weekend, using a pair of fresh softs.
However, even though Mir found another tenth with his next attempt, Quartararo soon reclaimed the top spot a few seconds before the chequered flag – and Bagnaia then restored the status quo at the chequered flag, creating a familiar 1-2 as he lapped 0.132s slower than Quartararo’s 1m39.390s.
Bagnaia’s Ducati team-mate Jack Miller made it the same top three as in the morning, ahead of Mir and the leading Honda of Pol Espargaro.
Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati), Alex Marquez (LCR Honda), Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia), Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda) and Alex Rins (Suzuki) completed the top 10 – which is currently identical to the list of riders on course for automatic Q2 spots.
The top 16 was separated by just 1.077s and didn’t feature the likes of Stefan Bradl, replacing the concussed Marc Marquez at Honda this weekend, or Miguel Oliveira, the home hero having struggled on his KTM through Friday.
Practice 2 Results
| Pos | Name | Team | Bike | Gap Next | Gap Leader | Best Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fabio Quartararo | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 1m39.39s | ||
| 2 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | +0.132s | +0.132s | 1m39.522s |
| 3 | Jack Miller | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | +0.089s | +0.221s | 1m39.611s |
| 4 | Joan Mir | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | +0.069s | +0.29s | 1m39.68s |
| 5 | Pol Espargaró | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | +0.112s | +0.402s | 1m39.792s |
| 6 | Johann Zarco | Pramac Racing | Ducati | +0.097s | +0.499s | 1m39.889s |
| 7 | Alex Marquez | LCR Honda Castrol | Honda | +0.153s | +0.652s | 1m40.042s |
| 8 | Aleix Espargaró | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | +0.027s | +0.679s | 1m40.069s |
| 9 | Takaaki Nakagami | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | Honda | +0.053s | +0.732s | 1m40.122s |
| 10 | Alex Rins | Team SUZUKI ECSTAR | Suzuki | +0.054s | +0.786s | 1m40.176s |
| 11 | Jorge Martin | Pramac Racing | Ducati | +0.003s | +0.789s | 1m40.179s |
| 12 | Franco Morbidelli | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | +0.046s | +0.835s | 1m40.225s |
| 13 | Danilo Petrucci | Tech3 KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.006s | +0.841s | 1m40.231s |
| 14 | Maverick Viñales | Aprilia Racing Team Gresini | Aprilia | +0.053s | +0.894s | 1m40.284s |
| 15 | Luca Marini | SKY VR46 Avintia Team | Ducati | +0.039s | +0.933s | 1m40.323s |
| 16 | Enea Bastianini | Avintia Esponsorama Racing | Ducati | +0.144s | +1.077s | 1m40.467s |
| 17 | Brad Binder | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.031s | +1.108s | 1m40.498s |
| 18 | Stefan Bradl | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | +0.202s | +1.31s | 1m40.7s |
| 19 | Miguel Oliveira | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.235s | +1.545s | 1m40.935s |
| 20 | Iker Lecuona | Tech3 KTM Factory Racing | KTM | +0.162s | +1.707s | 1m41.097s |
| 21 | Valentino Rossi | Petronas Yamaha SRT | Yamaha | +0.077s | +1.784s | 1m41.174s |
| 22 | Andrea Dovizioso | Petronas Yamaha SRT | Yamaha | +0.04s | +1.824s | 1m41.214s |
