Portuguese Grand Prix FP1 & FP2 Results | Marquez on top as Yamaha suffer

The Portuguese round of the 2022 MotoGP World Championship started in uncharacteristic wet conditions. 

It is actually quite unusual to see full wet conditions on the scale of those in Portimao today for FP1 and FP2 at the Portuguese Grand Prix. Both the morning and afternoon sessions were wet from start to finish, and not so much as a thought was paid to the Michelin slick tyres. 

The fortunate thing for the riders is that the wet weather running was not totally pointless, as there is a chance of rain for Saturday’s qualifying sessions as well. Crucially, it looks like it is going to be dry overnight, so there is a chance that FP3 could be dry. If so, that will be crucial for Q2 qualification, and the conditions tomorrow morning could be the most important factor of the whole weekend for some riders.

Going into tomorrow, some will carry more confidence than others after today’s wet weather running.

Marc Marquez topped FP1, and since FP2’s conditions were more severe, there was no chance for anyone to improve on it in the afternoon. Only Pol Espargaro, Andrea Dovizioso and Franco Morbidelli improved in FP2, and of those only Espargaro entered the top 10, finishing second overall. So, the eight-times champion will go into Saturday as the fastest rider for the first time in 2022. 

Of course, Marquez is no stranger to running fast times in wet conditions, but with his rough start to the season and the dramatic changes to the Honda - especially given the RC213V did not exactly excel in Indonesia’s wet race - showing good speed today was quite important. 

Pol Espargaro backed that up by topping FP2, ahead of Marquez, and with Alex Marquez in sixth in FP2, and Takaaki Nakagami in ninth, it was overall a positive afternoon for HRC.

Nakagami’s morning was less straightforward. He crashed fairly heavily at turn nine, ending up at turn 10. There were also crashes in the afternoon for Francesco Bagnaia (turn eight), Marco Bezzecchi (turn nine), and Johann Zarco (turn two). All who crashed were okay, but Bagnaia returned to the factory Ducati garage with a handful of gravel, the state of which he was unhappy with. 

Bagnaia could at least be happy with his pace, which had him in the top 10 overall, and fourth in FP2. The same could not be said for the reigning World Champion, Fabio Quartararo, as Yamaha’s wet weather pace disappeared. 

Quartararo, as well as Darryn Binder on the RNF bike, showed good speed in Indonesia’s wet race, with the Frenchman finishing second overall. Here in Portimao, where the wet weather grip from the track surface is less extraordinary, the struggles for the YZR-M1 riders in the wet returned and, although Andrea Dovizioso and Franco Morbidelli were in the top 10 in FP2, not a single Yamaha has a provisional Q2 spot overnight.

Also without an overnight top 10 position is world championship leader Enea Bastianini. The Italian had a relatively quiet day, but will need to improve from 16th overnight to enter Q2 directly.

Full combined times from FP1 and FP2 in Portimao are below.

2022 Grand Prix of Portugal | Autodromo Internacional do Algarve | FP1 + FP2 Results