The newly-crowned Champion tops the timesheets ahead of Bagnaia and Miller
It was a very impressive opening day of action at the Grande Prémio Brembo do Algarve for 2021 World Champion Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP). After claiming P1 in FP1, the flying Frenchman topped FP2 with a 1:39.390 to beat Francesco Bagnaia by 0.132, with Jack Miller making it two Ducati Lenovo Team machines in the top three.
FP1
Quartararo started the day as he meant to go on: fastest. However, the Frenchman left it until his last lap to edge out Bagnaia by just 0.045s. Quartararo’s 1:40.192 was good enough to beat third place Miller by 0.131 too, with three familiar faces fighting in out in the top three.
Team Suzuki Ecstar duo Alex Rins – who sported a phenomenal shoulder cam in FP1 – and 2020 World Champion Joan Mir completed the first top five of the weekend as the riders got a sunny and dry opening Free Practice session under their belts, impressing early on.
There were no incidents in FP1.
FP2
Conditions remained perfect in FP2 and three Hondas were able to get themselves into the top six by the time the session had reached the halfway point – Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) sat P4 ahead of Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) and Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu). However, the top three from FP1 remained unchanged – Quartararo, Bagnaia, Miller – both in terms of position and time.
With 16 minutes left on the clock, a change at the top occurred. Bagnaia slammed in a 1:40.007 to leapfrog Quartararo into P1, and the Italian’s advantage was now 0.185s. The final 10 minutes then reared its head and, as usual, soft tyres and pushing for top 10 slot was the name of the game. Mir became the first rider to dip below the 1.40 bracket, and the 2020 Champion went even quicker on the next lap.
Miller then went top, but Quartararo immediately shoved the Australian down to second. Pecco was then able to string a personal best lap of the day together on his final effort, but the Italian couldn’t quite find an answer for Quartararo.
There were no crashes in FP2 either.
Combined timesheets
Behind Quartararo and the Ducati Lenovo Team duo, Mir slots into fourth. It was a positive day at the office for the Spaniard and the number 36 heads into Saturday just a couple of tenths down on Quartararo.
Fifth place Pol Espargaro leads the Honda charge, with Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) moving up from P13 in FP1 to take sixth overall and in FP2, readying for his charge at the title of top Independent Team rider on Sunday…
Alex Marquez enjoyed his Friday on the rollercoaster and took seventh, the Spaniard heading compatriot Aleix Esaprgaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) and LCR Honda teammate Nakagami in P8 and P9, respectively. The final provisional place in Q2 goes to Rins as it stands, but the top 15 riders are split by less than a second so far…
Will FP3 see another shuffle? The skies look likely to stay dry so it’s all hands on deck for a time attack on Saturday morning from 9:55 (GMT), before qualifying from 14:10!
MotoGP™ Friday top five:
1 Fabio Quartararo – Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP – Yamaha – 1:39.390
2 Francesco Bagnaia – Ducati Lenovo Team – Ducati – +0.132
3 Jack Miller – Ducati Lenovo Team – Ducati – +0.221
4 Joan Mir – Team Suzuki Ecstar – Suzuki – +0.290
5 Pol Espargaro – Repsol Honda Team – Honda – +0.402
Top Independent Team rider
6 Johann Zarco* – Pramac Racing – Ducati – +0.499
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