Portimao MotoGP Test results – Day 1 (Saturday 12:30pm)

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…

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• ‘If we raced, maybe the top 5 would be Ducati’

12:30: Reigning world champion Francesco Bagnaia has now taken the best lap time down from 1m 40s to 1m 36.6s, but with home star Miguel Oliveira in hot pursuit! Jorge Martin and Luca Marini follow, but with Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo briefly rising to third before being pushed down to fifth.

Alex Rins has made big progress to move into sixth and top Honda, with Johann Zarco down to eighth after a fall. Top KTM rider Brad Binder has improved to 13th, with Bagnaia’s team-mate Enea Bastianini climbing from 21st to 15th. Marc Marquez has slipped back to 17th for Repsol Honda.

Jack Miller and Takaaki Nakagami are proping up the timesheets, either side of Ducati test rider Michele Pirro…

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 31.435s (2022)

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?