QUARTARARO ON TOP IN RETURN TO PORTUGAL
After clinching his maiden MotoGP title a fortnight ago, Fabio Quartararo has been let off the leash and topped both practice sessions at the Algarve Circuit in Portugal.
The factory Yamaha rider ended the day over 0.1s clear of his nearest rival, the man who was his biggest challenger in the championship this year, Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia.
All drivers set their fastest times of the day in the dying minutes of practice 2, and with a couple of minutes remaining it looked as though outgoing champion Joan Mir would end Friday on top.
However, in the closing moments, both Ducatis and Quartararo demoted Mir to fourth.
Quartararo’s 1m 39.390s time saw him sit 0.137s clear of Bagnaia at the end of the day, continuing the form which saw him win at the Portuguese circuit in April.
Australian Jack Miller has not finished on the podium since June, however his weekend got off to a promising start setting the third fastest time of the day, only 0.089s from his teammate’s time.
Mir on his factory Suzuki was next, 0.29s behind the 2021 MotoGP champion Quartararo.
Pol Espargaro on his factory Honda made it four bike brands in the top five positions and came just a fortnight after he scored his first podium with the team.
It has been a difficult week for Honda with the winner of the last two grands prix, Marc Marquez forced to skip the round due to a concussion.
After claiming a top five finish last time out at Misano, Johann Zarco concluded the opening day in seventh position, 0.499s from his fellow Frenchman’s time.
Next came LCR Honda rider and younger brother of Marc Marquez, Alex, who ended Friday in seventh ahead of Aprilia rider Aleix Espargaro and his LCR teammate Takaaki Nakagami.
Alex Rins rounded out the top 10 on his Suzuki, after edging out Jorge Martin by 0.003s.
Martin was pushed out of the top 10 in the dying seconds at the very track at which he suffered serious injuries earlier this year.
Another man still recovering from injuries is Franco Morbidelli, he was also nudged out in the closing seconds and ended up in 12th.
Danilo Petrucci was best of the KTM riders in 13th, slightly faster than Maverick Vinales, Luca Marini, Enea Bastianini and Brad Binder.
Marc Marquez’s replacement Stefan Bradl impressively finished seventh at the venue last year, and ended the day in 18th.
One shock was 2020 Portuguese Grand Prix winner and home hero Miguel Oliveira who ended the day 1.5s slower than Quartararo, buried down in 19th.
FIM World Superbike bound Iker Lecuona was 20th ahead of the two Italian veterans, Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso who rounded out the 22-rider field in practice 2.
All riders improved their times in the second session, but nevertheless, Quartararo also topped the times in practice 1.
His 1m 40.192 was enough to see him top his first practice 1 session in nearly 18 months.
It was in fact the same top three in the opening session Quartararo leading Bagnaia and Miller, while Rins was ahead of his teammate Mir in fourth and fifth respectively.
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