After just three minutes of testing the settings on the track, Francesco Bagnaia returned to the paddock. Even though at that time, he was ranked ninth in the time table. Apparently, this is not an easy day for the representatives of Ducati.
Even though Pecco had shot to the fastest racer row, he had to settle for dropping to P9 in the first session. His partner, Enea Bastianini, was stuck in mid-table and the situation worsened in the second practice. Former Gresini rider slumped to 18th place.
GasGas Tech3 racer, Pol Espargaro, crashed at Turn 15 while descending from a hill in the sixth minute. His motorbike was damaged so the Spaniard had to return to the paddock with someone else on his back.
About four minutes later, it was Joan Mir’s turn to have an incident. This left no smiles in the Honda garage. The brand-new racer rode his motorbike back to the garage.
Up to 13 minutes, when Alex Marquez was still holding out in front of Joan Mir, Fabio Quartararo, Maverick Vinales and Luca Marini.
Suddenly a red flag was raised when the time showed 46 minutes 38 seconds remaining. According to Race Direction, the cause of the red flag is a technical problem.
Pit lane was opened again after the clock showed 15.43 local time. Marco Bezzecchi had an incident and went very hard. A similar incident was experienced by the only debutant, Augusto Fernandez.
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Vinales ranks third between Mir and Marini, while his teammate Aleix Espargaro is sixth. This shows that Aprilia is a dangerous challenger.
On the other hand, Marc Marquez was thrown to 17th place when approaching the half of the session. He returned to the garage several times to report complaints to crew chief Santi Hernandez.
Vinales improved his time to move up to the top two, better than Pecco and Mir.
Without interruption, Marc Marquez focused on maximizing the potential of his bike. In the final 25 minutes, the six-time MotoGP champion sent his younger brother, Alex, off the top. Not long ago enjoying his success, Jorge Martin advanced with 1:38,370 seconds.
Bagnaia sensed something was wrong with the motorbike. He even almost crashed while turning at Turn 15.
Raul Fernandez crashed at Turn 13. His team-mate Miguel Oliveira also had a more horrific incident but is in good condition.
The red flag flashed again with 13.55 left of the session. It can be seen that Pol Espargaro had an accident at Turn 10 and was handled by the medical team at the edge of the track.
Shortly before, his brother Aleix Espargaro pushed into the lead with 1:35,253. He is 0.117 away from Martin.
The entire paddock crew is nervous waiting for news about Espargaro. Moments later, it was announced that the former Honda rider was sober. At the edge of the track, a medic can be seen lifting an infusion bottle.
Espargaro was taken by ambulance to the medical center. Around it, several safety cars parked. The team boss, Herve Poncharal, visited the treatment center to see the driver’s condition.
Doctors diagnosed trauma to the chest and back and had to be flown to a hospital in Faro.
Practice resumed at 16.40 local time. Some racers are worried about the drop in temperature which will affect the performance of the motorbike.
Luca Marini crashed before a minute down on the track. He rushed back to the garage to ride a replacement motorbike.
In eight minutes, Jorge Martin skyrocketed to first place. The Ducati racers seemed to get an injection of new energy. Bastianini reached P2, followed by Bagnaia at the top of the time standings, 1:37.856, before his motorbike broke down at Turn 5.
Vinales set the benchmark and was stolen by Jack Miller with 1:37.709 in stoppage time. Meanwhile, Marc Marquez crashed at Turn 3 while trying to follow Quartararo.
Miller locked in the best time followed by Vinales, Pecco, Marini, Martin and Quartararo.