ZARCO ON TOP IN PORTIMAO

Johann Zarco on top in Portimao – Photo: LAT

French rider Johann Zarco was fastest on the opening day of MotoGP action at the Portimao Circuit after two and a half hours of Friday running.

By DAN McCARTHY

For Friday practice in Portugal, the two MotoGP sessions were extended to give riders extra time to learn the new track on MotoGP machinery.

Despite it only being Friday practice, it was intense with just one second covering the top 18 riders.

At the end of the day former two-time Moto2 champion Zarco found himself at the head of the field after setting a 1m 39.415s time on his Avintia Ducati.

He was the only rider to set a time in the 39.4s bracket, just over 0.1s clear of factory Yamaha rider Maverick Vinales.

Spaniard Aleix Espargaro shone on his factory Aprilia, ending the day only 0.228s off the pace of Zarco.

For much of the day, riders who already had extensive experience of the circuit were fastest but as the day wore on the Portimao rookies found their feet around the undulating Portuguese layout.

Former championship leader and Petronas Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo was fourth in practice 2 with a time only 0.28s slower than his fellow Frenchman up top, KTM rider Brad Binder was only a further 0.005s back.

New MotoGP champion Joan Mir ended the day in sixth after a productive day of long-run practice from the 23-year-old.

Factory Ducati rider Andrea Dovizioso, Pol Espargaro, and Australia’s own Jack Miller rounded out the top nine.

The man currently second in the standings, Petronas Yamaha rider Franco Morbidelli ended the day in 10th, at this stage a provisional spot into Q2 for tomorrow’s qualifying session.

Honda test rider and substitute rider Stefan Bradl took advantage of the fact that he rode at the circuit just a couple of weeks ago and just missed out on a top 10 spot by only 0.019s.

After a fall at Turn 4 Takaaki Nakagami ended the day in 12th from Miguel Oliveira and Cal Crutchlow who is taking part in his final full-time grand prix weekend. Francesco Bagnaia and Lorenzo Salvadori concluded the top 16.

Suzuki star and Alex Rins suffered a Turn 8 fall early in the second session and appeared to be unable to regain confidence, he ended up in 17th ahead of Alex Marquez, Danilo Petrucci and Tito Rabat.

In his last weekend with the factory Yamaha team, nine-time champion Valentino Rossi’s day couldn’t have gone much worse, after crashing at Turn 4 the Italian ended practice 2 1.862s off the pace in a lowly 21st position.

Mika Kallio who is subbing in for Iker Lecuona ended the day at the back, but is thrilled to be racing at the Portuguese venue.

All 22 riders were faster in the second session, in an uneventful first practice it was Tech 3 KTM squad rider and local star Olivera who was fastest.

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