Enea Bastianini assumes the lead in the second MotoGP practice session in Portimão, while Marc Marquez suffers his first accident of the season. Marquez, who had only had one incident during testing and stayed on the bike throughout the entire race in Qatar, fell at the end of the session. However, this did not have a significant impact on his performance, as he comfortably secured a spot in Q2. Bastianini clocked the fastest lap in 1m38.057s, over two seconds faster than Marquez’s previous lap in the first practice session. Jack Miller from KTM was the closest competitor to Bastianini, followed by Marquez and Jorge Martin from Pramac. Despite an early fall, Miller’s teammate Binder finished in fifth place. Marco Bezzecchi and Maverick Vinales also had great performances, finishing in sixth and seventh place, respectively. Reigning champion Pecco Bagnaia initially struggled to secure a spot in the top ten, but managed to improve his time on the last lap, finishing in eighth place. Fabio Quartararo and Alex Rins, both riding Yamaha, completed the top 10 and became the first riders to qualify directly for Q2 with Japanese bikes this season. Takaaki Nakagami from LCR Honda finished in 16th place, while Pedro Acosta from Tech3 Gas Gas was the fastest rider to miss out on automatic qualification for Q2. Several riders, including Aleix Espargaro, Alex Marquez, Luca Marini, and Franco Morbidelli, suffered accidents during the session. Morbidelli’s crash was particularly disappointing, as he had shown a good performance throughout the day and could have been among the top ten.
