Marco Bezzecchi half-a-second clear in Portimao MotoGP warm-up
Aprilia's Marco Bezzecchi leads warm-up for the Portimao MotoGP by half a second.
After losing out to Alex Marquez and Pedro Acosta in Saturday’s Portimao Sprint battle, Marco Bezzecchi struck back in style as riders moved to the medium rear tyre for morning warm-up.
Bezzecchi put his Aprilia 0.544s clear of the field, led by Acosta’s KTM, during the ten-minute session.
Both started on a new medium rear tyre, after softs for the Sprint, although Acosta’s soft front had done 10 laps this morning compared with 5 for Bezzecchi.
However, as on Saturday, all riders will race the hard front in the grand prix.
“I feel good. It was a positive warm-up, the sun is shining so for the moment everything is going well,” Bezzecchi said. “Now we’ll work on the last details and hopefully make a good race.”
“Super close yesterday, but today is a new chance,” said Acosta. “A long race and quite different with the medium rear tyre, so let’s see what’s going on.”
VR46’s Franco Morbidelli, Gresini’s Fermin Aldeguer and Honda’s Joan Mir followed with Sprint winner Alex Marquez in sixth.
“This morning was quite cold, so we took it in a calm way,” Marquez said. “I’ve had a great feeling all weekend, but we need to concentrate for the race.”
Fabio Quartararo, fourth in the Sprint, jolted his left arm as he held on to his bucking Yamaha on the way to eighth this morning.
Pramac Yamaha’s Miguel Oliveira was 17th in warm-up, ahead of his final home MotoGP race.
“After the warm-up the feeling was not amazing with the medium rear tyre,” Oliveira said. “We thought it could make the rear more stable, but we’ll do the best we can for the race. I’ll try to enjoy the day.
“It’s hard to say goodbye, but it’s not a definitive goodbye. Thanks to all the fans.”
Oliveira will be racing in WorldSBK next season, where he’ll compete with Nicolo Bulega, making his MotoGP debut this weekend as Marc Marquez’s replacement at the factory Ducati team.
“Last weekend I was watching on TV and now I’m here. It’s a pleasure to be here and wear these colours,” said Bulega, who fell early in the Sprint and was 19th in warm-up.
“I’m here just to make experience because you have to ride completely different from a Superbike, especially the tyres.”
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Peter has been in the paddock for 20 years and has seen Valentino Rossi come and go. He is at the forefront of the Suzuki exit story and Marc Marquez’s injury issues.
