Portimao MotoGP Test results - Day 1, Saturday (FINAL)

Lap times from Saturday’s opening day of the final 2023 MotoGP pre-season test, at Portimao.

11 Mar 2023

Francesco Bagnaia waves at the crowd, Portuguese MotoGP test, 11 March

Reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia has finished the opening day of the Portimao test on top of the timesheets by 0.234s over fellow Ducati rider Luca Marini.

Beaten to the top time by Marini (GP22) at Sepang, factory star Bagnaia (GP23) battled with the VR46 rider for supremacy throughout the day before settling the contest by being the only rider in the 1m 38s.

Home hero Miguel Oliveira (RNF Aprilia), Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) and Maverick Vinales (Aprilia) also joined the P1 battle in the final hours, before Raul Fernandez turned heads by edging out team-mate Oliveira for fifth.

The Malaysian test had ended with a Ducati-Aprilia top nine, a feat almost repeated at the start of Portimao, when Fabio Quartararo's Yamaha was the quickest of the Japanese machines in eighth (+0.843s), behind Marco Bezzecchi.

Alex Rins was the top Honda in eleventh with former Suzuki team-mate Joan Mir 14th for Repsol. Marc Marquez was just 19th and Takaaki Nakagami 23rd.

Enea Bastianini and Franco Morbidelli also had a tough opening day in 17th and 21st while late laps by KTM team-mates Brad Binder and Jack Miller pulled the pair up to 15th and 16th place.

Fallers included Johann Zarco (twice), Fabio di Giannantonio (twice), Marc Marquez, Aleix Espargaro, Maverick Vinales, Nakagami and Mir.

di Giannantonio has gone to hospital for further checks after his crash at turn 7.

The technical novelties on show included some fork-mounted wings for Aprilia.

2023 Official Portimao MotoGP Test - Day 1 (FINAL)
		Rider	Nat	Team	Time	Lap	Speed
1	^3	Francesco Bagnaia	ITA	Ducati Lenovo (GP23)	1m 38.771s	77/78	334.3
2	˅1	Luca Marini	ITA	Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22)	+0.234s	58/65	340.6
3	˅1	Maverick Viñales	SPA	Aprilia Racing (RS-GP23)	+0.254s	71/88	334.3
4	˅1	Alex Marquez	SPA	Gresini Ducati (GP22)	+0.565s	56/65	337.5
5	^9	Raul Fernandez	SPA	RNF Aprilia (RS-GP22)	+0.689s	62/64	335.4
6	˅1	Miguel Oliveira	POR	RNF Aprilia (RS-GP22)	+0.695s	59/75	337.5
7	˅1	Marco Bezzecchi	ITA	Mooney VR46 Ducati (GP22)	+0.837s	62/76	337.5
8	^4	Fabio Quartararo	FRA	Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)	+0.843s	88/90	333.3
9	˅2	Fabio Di Giannantonio	ITA	Gresini Ducati (GP22)	+0.870s	32/50	334.3
10	˅2	Jorge Martin	SPA	Pramac Ducati (GP23)	+0.872s	38/63	335.4
11	˅2	Alex Rins	SPA	LCR Honda (RC213V)	+0.875s	66/77	332.3
12	˅2	Aleix Espargaro	SPA	Aprilia Racing (RS-GP23)	+0.877s	59/60	338.5
13	˅2	Johann Zarco	FRA	Pramac Ducati (GP22)	+0.945s	44/57	335.4
14	^1	Joan Mir	SPA	Repsol Honda (RC213V)	+1.005s	74/74	329.2
15	^5	Brad Binder	RSA	Red Bull KTM (RC16)	+1.152s	58/69	335.4
16	^5	Jack Miller	AUS	Red Bull KTM (RC16)	+1.216s	57/58	331.2
17	˅4	Enea Bastianini	ITA	Ducati Lenovo (GP23)	+1.238s	27/52	336.4
18	˅2	Stefan Bradl	GER	Honda Test Rider (RC213V)	+1.391s	58/72	331.2
19	˅2	Marc Marquez	SPA	Repsol Honda (RC213V)	+1.399s	35/78	336.4
20	˅2	Michele Pirro	ITA	Ducati Test Rider (GP23)	+1.565s	45/70	333.3
21	˅2	Franco Morbidelli	ITA	Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1)	+1.643s	75/95	330.2
22	=	Pol Espargaro	SPA	Tech3 GASGAS (RC16)	+1.736s	58/64	333.3
23	^1	Takaaki Nakagami	JPN	LCR Honda (RC213V)	+1.871s	68/74	328.2
24	˅1	Augusto Fernandez	SPA	Tech3 GASGAS (RC16)*	+2.000s	63/72	330.2

Key:
^X Rider is X positions higher than previous hour.
= Rider is same position as previous hour.
˅X Rider is X positions lower than previous hour.

Official Portimao MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati 1m 38.725s (2021)
Fastest race lap:
Fabio Quartararo FRA Yamaha 1m 39.435s (2022)

The 2023 MotoGP grid has its last chance for pre-season preparations with a two-day official test at Portimao this weekend, the same circuit where the season-opener will take place on March 24-25.

VR46 Ducati’s Luca Marini has set the fastest lap time at both previous winter outings, at Valencia in November and then a three-day test at Sepang in February.

While Marini is using a year-old Ducati, Portimao will be the last chance for factory teams to pick the aerodynamic and, most importantly, engine with which they will start the 2023 racing season.

Once chosen, the engine design cannot be changed until the end of the world championship, while aero can be updated just once.

Testing takes place at Portimao from 9:30-17:30 on Saturday and Sunday, followed by practice starts.

What happened at the Sepang test?

Ducati and Aprilia riders filled the top nine positions on the Sepang timesheets, with Marc Marquez and Honda best of the rest in tenth.

While Ducati and Aprilia appeared to have made light modifications to their proven packages, Marquez whittled down four different Hondas to one preferred machine, but warned it was not good enough to win the title and more was needed for Portimao.

After a scare at Valencia, Yamaha riders Fabio Quartararo and Franco Morbidelli were pleased with their more powerful 2023 engine, selecting the final version for the racing season.

But while pleased with their pace, the bike ‘didn’t work’ in qualifying spec, with low fuel and new tyres, leaving them 17th and 20th on the combined times. Solving the qualifying issue, as well as a final decision on aero and chassis parts, will be among Yamaha’s priorities in Portimao.

The GASGAS/KTMs struggled the most on paper with Pol Espargaro best of the RC16s in 13th place followed by Brad Binder in 14th, Jack Miller in 18th and rookie Augusto Fernandez in 22nd. But with plenty of parts available and more to come, will the Austrian factory put the pieces together at Portimao?