10:40
Conditions
The good news for Bulega is that conditions are fairly decent this morning. Dry weather, 20C of air temperature and 27C of track temperature at the moment, with five minutes remaining before FP1 starts.
Alex Marquez, 2025 MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix. Credit: Gold and Goose.
© Gold & Goose
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2025 Portuguese MotoGP: Friday Practice LIVE UPDATES
Live coverage of the penultimate round of the grand prix season with the 2025 Portuguese MotoGP from Portimao.
The MotoGP season enters its final phase this weekend at the 2025 Portuguese MotoGP begins the final European double-header of the year.
With the title wrapped up long ago and even second in the standings having been secured by Alex Marquez in Malaysia, the main points battle now is for third place.
Marco Bezzecchi currently leads that battle from Francesco Bagnaia, but Pedro Acosta's recent form has propelled him into contention, too, and the Spanish rider is now only 31 points adrift of third.
Portimao has also been a strong track for Acosta in the past, with two Moto3 wins there in 2021, a Moto2 win 2023, and a podium in only his second MotoGP start last year.
Bezzecchi, on the other hand, has only one podium at Portimao, that coming in the 2023 MotoGP race, but we know the Aprilia is strong at the Portuguese track, proven by Maverick Vinales' Sprint win here in 2024.
Francesco Bagnaia is a two-time winner in Portimao, those coming in the second 2021 race and in 2023, when he also won the Sprint.
Bagnaia, of course, has a new teammate for this weekend, as 2025 WorldSBK runner-up Nicolo Bulega joins the Ducati Lenovo Team in place of the injured Marc Marquez. Bulega tested at Jerez last week, and this weekend will mark his 100th grand prix start.
07 Nov 2025
10:39
Bulega debut
With no Marc Marquez this weekend, and with Alex Marquez having wrapped up the silver medal for 2025, the eyes are on Nicolo Buelga this morning to see what the only rider to have been able to challenge Toprak Razgatlioglu over the past two years can do on a MotoGP bike.
Quite hard to have many expectations for Bulega given he's had only one test and we don't have lap times from it, but for reference Andrea Iannone - when he filled in at VR46 for Fabio Di Giannantonio last year in Malaysia - finished eighth in FP1, but 1.856 seconds off the pace set by Pecco Bagnaia in that session.
10:31
Moto2 FP1 is just winding down now in Portimao. Aron Canet ends that fastest from Jake Dixon and Senna Agius.
Points leader Diogo Moreira finishes fifth-fastest, while long-time championship leader Manuel Gonzalez finishes the morning eighth.
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10:28
Welcome to live coverage of today's MotoGP practices from Portimao where FP1 will be getting underway in just over 15 minutes at 10:45 local time.
