Portimao MotoGP Friday Free Practice 1 as it happened

Round five of the 2022 MotoGP world championship heads to the Algarve International Circuit in Portimao, Portugal. 

Still looking for their first victory of the year are reigning MotoGP champion Fabio Quartararo, Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez. 

All three were the most successful riders when it came to race wins in 2021, however, the trio haven’t looked close to replicating that in 2022, instead Enea Bastianini is the in-form man after taking his second win from four races in Austin last time out. 

For Marquez, Portimao presents the opportunity to build upon his incredible comeback ride at COTA, where a technical issue at the start relegated him to the back. 

But in typical Marquez style, the eight-time world champion produced overtake after overtake in order to claim sixth, finishing one place ahead of Quartararo. 

Speaking of the Yamaha rider, Quartararo is the most recent winner at Portimao after dominating the 2021 Portuguese Grand Prix. 

Despite pressure from Alex Rins during that race, Quartararo’s pace was too much for the Suzuki rider to handle as he crashed out with seven laps to go. 

The only other rider to win at Portimao in MotoGP is home hero Miguel Oliveira. The factory KTM rider trounced the field during the 2020 race, while Franco Morbidelli and Jack Miller fought it out for second spot - Morbidelli came away with P2. 

Looking to bounce back from a somewhat disappointing American Grand Prix will be Aprilia’s first-ever MotoGP race winner Aleix Espargaro and team-mate Maverick Vinales, after both riders showed podium pace during practice. 

So far there have been three different winners and ten different podium finishers in 2022, but will those numbers continue to grow? Stay tuned as Crash.net brings you all the latest updates from the 2022 Portuguese Grand Prix.