MotoGP Portimao FP1: Maverick Vinales heads FP1, Marc Marquez P3
Well, Marc Marquez is well and truly back to business in P3.
I mean if there was any doubt that Marquez would be fast, it has been eradicated now. He has finished in FP1 in P3 which will have filled him full of confidence and happiness that he is back and he is still competitive in MotoGP, yes it’s only FP1 blah blah blah but it is a good indicator of what can be expected.
It was a slower session than we are used to seeing with the times over 2 seconds off the 2020 FP1 pace but it is the same for all the riders across the field, it will be incredibly interesting to see how everybody gets on as the pace increases and who will be the fastest riders.
Maverick Vinales was the fastest rider overall taking the top spot from Alex Rins who had previously taken it from Marc Marquez, Vinales is once again feeling comfortable on his M1 Yamaha and will be looking for a result this weekend on Portuguese soil.
Alex Rins was the second-placed rider ahead of a Repsol Honda duo, been a while since we have seen both Repsol Honda’s at the front of the field, the duo of Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro occupied the P3 and P4 positions at the track which is suited to them very well, it will be interesting to see what Pol Espargaro can do this weekend as he has not ridden here on the Honda, and of course it goes without saying all eyes are on Marc Marquez.
In P5 and P6 we saw Ducati duo Johann Zarco and Francesco Bagnaia with the two riders both standing on the podium at the Qatar season opener, Zarco comes to Portimao leading the MotoGP championship standings and will stop at nothing to ensure he keeps the lead, he will have to battle his compatriot Fabio Quartararo for this though, Quartararo was the winner of the second race in Doha and is fired up after a tough end to the 2020 season and will be desperate to fight back for wins.
Jack Miller was the 8th fastest rider and has undergone arm pump surgery in the past week so will be using this time to recover and get back to the top, he leads Alex Marquez and Danilo Petrucci in P10.
The Petronas SRT riders still not performing sitting in P11 (Rossi) and P14 (Morbidelli) as home hero Miguel Oliveira struggles to P17 as his teammate Brad Binder finished in last place.
Full Results:
