Portimao (Portugal): Eight-time MotoGP world champion Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) made a remarkable comeback in his first competitive ride since crashing nine months ago.
Marquez was third fastest in the opening free practice for the Portuguese Grand Prix on Friday.
Day 1 at the Grande Premio 888 de Portugal belonged to Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) as the Italian put together a pretty imperious performance to end the day fastest on the combined timesheets.
From wet patches in FP1 to a fully dry FP2, the Italian was a force to be reckoned with most of the time he was on track, with red sectors aplenty.
He ended the day three and a half tenths clear of Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), with reigning Champion Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) taking third overall.
The headlines were stolen a little, however, by the return of Marquez.
In FP1 Marquez was third overall and only lost out on the top spot after two very late lunges from Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), and by the end of play the Repsol Honda rider was sixth.
The first lap was a steady one, before the number 93 started to reel in those ahead of him as Bagnaia trolled those taking it steady with some consistent attacks on the top.
With the damp patches still very much playing a part it wasn’t ideal for anyone least of all a rider coming back after nine months on the sidelines, but as the final few flashes of pace emerged in the last few minutes, Marquez most definitely had speed.
Cranking it up to take over at the top with only moments remaining, it seemed like the fairy tale initial headline could be about to come true. But no, Rins first and next Viñales did enough to deny the eight-time World Champion by a couple of tenths.
(Information as received from MotoGP)
