Marquez falls, Bagnaia leads – Summary of the practice session in Portimão

Enea Bastianini takes the lead in the second MotoGP practice session in Portimão, while Marc Marquez suffers his first crash of the season. Marquez, who had only one incident during testing and stayed on the bike throughout the race in Qatar, fell at the end of the session. However, this did not have a significant impact on his performance, as he comfortably secured a spot in Q2. Bastianini set the fastest lap in 1m38.057s, more than two seconds faster than Marquez’s previous lap in the first practice session. KTM’s Jack Miller was the closest competitor to Bastianini, followed by Marquez and Pramac’s Jorge Martin. Despite an early crash, Miller’s teammate Binder finished in fifth place. Marco Bezzecchi and Maverick Vinales also had great performances, finishing sixth and seventh, respectively. Reigning champion Pecco Bagnaia initially struggled to secure a spot in the top ten, but managed to improve his time on the last lap, finishing in eighth place. Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins, both riding Yamaha, completed the top 10 and became the first riders to qualify directly for Q2 with Japanese bikes this season. LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami finished in 16th place, while Tech3 Gas Gas’ Pedro Acosta was the fastest rider to miss automatic qualification for Q2. Several riders, including Aleix Espargaro, Alex Marquez, Luca Marini, and Franco Morbidelli, suffered crashes during the session. Morbidelli’s crash was particularly disappointing, as he had shown good performance throughout the day and could have been in the top ten.