2025 Portuguese MotoGP, Portimao - Friday Practice Results

Friday practice results from the 2025 Portuguese MotoGP at Portimao, round 21 of 22.

Nicolo Bulega, Ducati Corse, 2025 Portuguese MotoGP
Nicolo Bulega, Ducati Corse, 2025 Portuguese MotoGP
© Gold and Goose

Alex Marquez completes a Friday practice double for the 2025 Portimao MotoGP round, ahead of Francesco Bagnaia and Pedro Acosta.

Morning leader Marquez was soon on top in the afternoon, this time running medium tyres front and rear.

Most others used the soft rear for their longer runs, while last year’s favoured hard front appeared with Marco Bezzecchi, Jack Miller and Lorenzo Savadori, then later Marquez and Bagnaia.

Rain flags appeared just as most riders were preparing to start their time attacks, with Miller sliding off at Turn 5.

The spots soon cleared, and Acosta used new softs to finally get the better of Marquez - only for the Gresini rider to respond on fresh rubber of his own.

After a lowly 17th in FP1, behind new team-mate Nicolo Bulega, Bagnaia was fast out of the blocks this afternoon before being pushed to tenth and in danger of another Q1 appearance.

But Bagnaia responded on his final run, surging to second place, just 0.030s behind Marquez.

KTM’s Acosta, Aprilia’s Bezzecchi, plus the Hondas of Joan Mir and Johann Zarco completed the top six. Yamaha's Fabio Quartararo was among those to miss the top ten cut.

WorldSBK title runner-up Bulega finished his first day as a MotoGP rider in 17th (+1.012s).

Franco Morbidelli and Luca Marini suffered early accidents at Turn 13 this afternoon. Marini’s second accident of the season left his factory Honda with extensive damage.

After a heavy crash this morning, Raul Fernandez was back for afternoon Practice, albeit with his condition being ‘monitored’ after a partial dislocation of his right shoulder.

Home star Miguel Oliveira finished the opening day of his final home MotoGP weekend in 22nd and last after failing to improve during his time attacks.

2025 Portuguese MotoGP, Portimao - Practice Results

PosRiderNatTeamTime/DiffLapMax
1Alex MarquezSPABK8 Gresini Ducati (GP24)1'37.974s20/24344k
2Francesco BagnaiaITADucati Lenovo (GP25)+0.030s20/20345k
3Pedro AcostaSPARed Bull KTM (RC16)+0.088s18/23347k
4Marco BezzecchiITAAprilia Racing (RS-GP25)+0.159s25/25347k
5Joan MirSPAHonda HRC Castrol (RC213V)+0.209s21/22346k
6Johann ZarcoFRACastrol Honda LCR (RC213V)+0.258s15/19345k
7Fabio Di GiannantonioITAPertamina VR46 Ducati (GP25)+0.328s21/24342k
8Fermin AldeguerSPABK8 Gresini Ducati (GP24)*+0.408s20/24339k
9Pol EspargaroSPARed Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16)+0.450s19/20346k
10Ai OguraJPNTrackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP25)*+0.469s20/22344k
11Luca MariniITAHonda HRC Castrol (RC213V)+0.577s17/19345k
12Franco MorbidelliITAPertamina VR46 Ducati (GP24)+0.623s14/18343k
13Fabio QuartararoFRAMonster Yamaha (YZR-M1)+0.624s21/23340k
14Brad BinderRSARed Bull KTM (RC16)+0.679s21/26346k
15Raul FernandezSPATrackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP25)+0.788s17/20343k
16Jack MillerAUSPramac Yamaha (YZR-M1)+0.900s19/22345k
17Nicolo BulegaITADucati Lenovo (GP25)+1.012s24/24342k
18Alex RinsSPAMonster Yamaha (YZR-M1)+1.096s15/23342k
19Enea BastianiniITARed Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16)+1.156s19/22344k
20Somkiat ChantraTHAIdemitsu Honda LCR (RC213V)*+1.824s19/24342k
21Lorenzo SavadoriITAAprilia Factory (RS-GP25)+1.884s22/23342k
22Miguel OliveiraPORPramac Yamaha (YZR-M1)+1.907s3/19341k

* Rookie

Official Portimao MotoGP Records:

Best lap: Marc Marquez, Honda, 1m 37.226s (2023)

Fastest race lap: Enea Bastianini, Ducati, 1m 38.685s (2024)

Alex Marquez kicks off the 2025 Portimao MotoGP round with a dominant performance in FP1.

The Gresini rider, who celebrated second in the world championship with victory last time in Malaysia, kept the same set of medium front and soft rear tyres throughout.

Aprilia’s Marco Bezzecchi made a late leap to second (+0.196s) on a newer soft front tyre. Jack Miller took third for Pramac Yamaha after fitting fresh rubber, front and rear, in the final minutes.

LCR Honda's Johann Zarco (old tyres), Tech3 KTM's Pol Espargaro (new) and VR46 Ducati's Franco Morbidelli (old) completed the top six.

Nicolo Bulega, 2025 Portimao MotoGP
Nicolo Bulega, 2025 Portimao MotoGP

Bulega ahead of Bagnaia

Every MotoGP weekend seems a leap into the unknown for Francesco Bagnaia at the moment, and Portimao started with the factory Ducati rider just 17th - and behind new team-mate Nicolo Bulega.

The WorldSBK title runner-up began his first-ever MotoGP event impressively with 14th (out of 22 riders) and within one second of Alex Marquez.

Bulega's best time came on his 21st and final lap of the session, with a soft front tyre that had done 11 laps and a medium rear with a full 21 laps.

Bagnaia used the same set of medium tyres, front and rear, throughout.

Miguel Oliveira was 20th at the start of his final home weekend as a MotoGP rider.

Espargaro was the first faller of the weekend, at Turn 2. Phillip Island winner Raul Fernandez was later taken to the medical centre after staggering away from a big accident at the fearsome first turn.

LCR rookie Somkiat Chantra saved a huge unintentional wheelie over the rise onto the main straight.

Tyre allocation is the same as last year’s March round, when the hard front was the clear favourite in both races, combined with a soft rear in the Sprint and medium rear in the grand prix.

Rain is a threat throughout Friday, adding urgency to the FP1 work, with rain flags briefly appearing in the closing stages.

2025 Portuguese MotoGP, Portimao - Free Practice (1) Results

PosRiderNatTeamTime/DiffLapMax
1Alex MarquezSPABK8 Gresini Ducati (GP24)1'39.145s7/19344k
2Marco BezzecchiITAAprilia Racing (RS-GP25)+0.196s20/20342k
3Jack MillerAUSPramac Yamaha (YZR-M1)+0.233s18/19343k
4Johann ZarcoFRACastrol Honda LCR (RC213V)+0.349s6/17345k
5Pol EspargaroSPARed Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16)+0.361s18/18343k
6Franco MorbidelliITAPertamina VR46 Ducati (GP24)+0.389s15/18343k
7Luca MariniITAHonda HRC Castrol (RC213V)+0.404s15/19346k
8Joan MirSPAHonda HRC Castrol (RC213V)+0.405s16/16344k
9Pedro AcostaSPARed Bull KTM (RC16)+0.521s18/18343k
10Fermin AldeguerSPABK8 Gresini Ducati (GP24)*+0.540s6/17340k
11Fabio QuartararoFRAMonster Yamaha (YZR-M1)+0.587s17/19338k
12Fabio Di GiannantonioITAPertamina VR46 Ducati (GP25)+0.592s11/16343k
13Ai OguraJPNTrackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP25)*+0.841s18/19341k
14Nicolo BulegaITADucati Lenovo (GP25)+0.928s21/21339k
15Brad BinderRSARed Bull KTM (RC16)+1.040s19/21346k
16Alex RinsSPAMonster Yamaha (YZR-M1)+1.076s17/20340k
17Francesco BagnaiaITADucati Lenovo (GP25)+1.161s16/18345k
18Raul FernandezSPATrackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP25)+1.204s7/11338k
19Enea BastianiniITARed Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16)+1.255s18/19344k
20Miguel OliveiraPORPramac Yamaha (YZR-M1)+1.712s17/18341k
21Somkiat ChantraTHAIdemitsu Honda LCR (RC213V)*+2.118s14/18341k
22Lorenzo SavadoriITAAprilia Factory (RS-GP25)+2.375s5/18342k

 

* Rookie

Official Portimao MotoGP Records:

Best lap: Marc Marquez, Honda, 1m 37.226s (2023)

Fastest race lap: Enea Bastianini, Ducati, 1m 38.685s (2024)

Double WorldSBK title runner-up Nicolo Bulega is making his MotoGP debut, in place of injured world champion Marc Marquez at the factory Ducati team, for the remaining Portimao and Valencia rounds.

Maverick Vinales and Jorge Martin - winners of the 2024 Portimao Sprint and Grand Prix respectively - also remain on the sidelines due to injury. They are again replaced by KTM test rider Pol Espargaro and Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori.

While Marc and Alex Marquez are confirmed as first and second in the world championship standings, Marco Bezzecchi starts the penultimate round with a slim five-point advantage over Francesco Bagnaia for third.

Honda will move up from D to C in the concessions ranking, alongside Aprilia and KTM, if it scores 19 more constructors’ points by the end of the season.

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