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MotoGP Portuguese GP: Bastianini tops FP2, Marquez has first Ducati crash

The dusty conditions that affected the morning session had improved significantly for second practice, with lap times improving by over 1.5 seconds.

Bastianini set the best pace on his factory team Ducati with a 1m38.057s, leading the way by 0.118s from KTM’s Jack Miller.

Marquez completed the top three despite suffering his first race weekend crash of the year on the Gresini Ducati,  the eight-time world champion sliding off at Turn 5 late on.

Jorge Martin was fourth on the Pramac Ducati from KTM’s Brad Binder, while both factory Yamahas delivered a shock to rookie sensation Pedro Acosta (Tech3 GasGas) by dumping him out of the top 10 and into Q1 for qualifying on Saturday.

VR46 Ducati rider Marco Bezzecchi set the early pace in second practice at a 1m39.996s, before quickly giving way to team-mate Fabio Di Giannantonio on a 1m39.936s.

Fabio Quartararo on the factory Yamaha then moved clear with a 1m39.199s, which stood as the reference lap over 20 minutes before Marc Marquez made his first trip to the top of the standings with a 1m39.110s just under half an hour in.

Martin and Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales – who was the first significant improver on fresh soft rubber - deposed Marquez over the next 10 minutes, but the Gresini rider found his way back to the top of the timesheets with a 1m38.629s with 18 minutes to go.

He followed this up with a 1m38.559s, before Bastianini produced a 1m38.057s with 12 minutes to go to end the day on top.

Marquez was unable to fight to reclaim his place at the head of the field when he crashed at the start of his final run.

The Gresini rider got loose on the way into the downhill braking of Turn 5 and slid off, doing so moments after team-mate Alex Marquez crashed at Turn 14.

Marc Marquez held onto third despite this behind Miller – who took a tumble earlier in the session – and Bastianini.

Behind Martin and Binder came Bezzecchi, with Vinales, reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) and the Yamaha duo of Quartararo and Alex Rins rounding out the top 10.

The late improvement for the Yamaha pair meant Acosta missed a place in Q2 by just 0.039s, with the Tech3 rider 11th ahead of Di Giannantonio, Alex Marquez (Gresini) and Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro – who crashed in the closing stages of second practice at Turn 4.

Pramac’s Franco Morbidelli was another late crasher, which left him in 15th, while Takaaki Nakagami (LCR) was top Honda in 16th in a difficult session for the Japanese brand which also saw Luca Marini fall off his bike late on.

MotoGP Portuguese GP - FP2 results:

   
1
 - 
5
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Rider # Bike Laps Time Interval km/h Speed Trap
1 Italy E. Bastianini Ducati Team 23 Ducati 21

1'38.057

  171.965  
2 Australia J. Miller Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 43 KTM 23

+0.118

1'38.175

0.118 171.758  
3 Spain M. Marquez Gresini Racing 93 Ducati 23

+0.153

1'38.210

0.035 171.697  
4 Spain J. Martin Pramac Racing 89 Ducati 25

+0.231

1'38.288

0.078 171.561  
5 South Africa B. Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 33 KTM 23

+0.330

1'38.387

0.099 171.388  
6 Italy M. Bezzecchi Team VR46 72 Ducati 25

+0.352

1'38.409

0.022 171.350  
7 Spain M. Viñales Aprilia Racing Team 12 Aprilia 21

+0.354

1'38.411

0.002 171.346  
8 Italy F. Bagnaia Ducati Team 1 Ducati 21

+0.484

1'38.541

0.130 171.120  
9 France F. Quartararo Yamaha Factory Racing 20 Yamaha 20

+0.495

1'38.552

0.011 171.101  
10 Spain A. Rins Yamaha Factory Racing 42 Yamaha 22

+0.503

1'38.560

0.008 171.087  
11 Spain P. Acosta Tech 3 31 KTM 24

+0.542

1'38.599

0.039 171.019  
12 Italy F. Di Giannantonio Team VR46 49 Ducati 21

+0.578

1'38.635

0.036 170.957  
13 Spain A. Marquez Gresini Racing 73 Ducati 20

+0.752

1'38.809

0.174 170.656  
14 Spain A. Espargaro Aprilia Racing Team 41 Aprilia 20

+0.755

1'38.812

0.003 170.651  
15 Italy F. Morbidelli Pramac Racing 21 Ducati 19

+0.825

1'38.882

0.070 170.530  
16 Japan T. Nakagami Team LCR 30 Honda 22

+0.905

1'38.962

0.080 170.392  
17 Portugal M. Oliveira Trackhouse Racing Team 88 Aprilia 22

+0.991

1'39.048

0.086 170.244  
18 Spain R. Fernández Trackhouse Racing Team 25 Aprilia 21

+0.991

1'39.048

0.000 170.244  
19 Spain J. Mir Repsol Honda Team 36 Honda 24

+1.062

1'39.119

0.071 170.122  
20 France J. Zarco Team LCR 5 Honda 21

+1.090

1'39.147

0.028 170.074  
21 Spain A. Fernandez Tech 3 37 KTM 23

+1.103

1'39.160

0.013 170.052  
22 Italy L. Marini Repsol Honda Team 10 Honda 20

+1.724

1'39.781

0.621 168.994  
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