Jack Miller led the MotoGP warm-up this morning ahead of the Portuguese Grand Prix despite a small fire on his factory Ducati bike.
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Halfway through the session, Miller returned to the pit lane on Friday with a minor fire similar to that of Johann Zarco’s Pramac Ducati.
@jackmilleraus’ hot seat gets a little too hot! @ducaticorse solve the problem quickly! #Portuguese GP pic.twitter.com/HHrVfwDApS
– MotoGP (@MotoGP) April 18, 2021
But the problem was quickly solved, because the Australian drove out again in the last few minutes and was the fastest on his last flying lap in front of Fabio Quartararo.
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It looked like Quartararo would finish in the lead for the fourth session in a row at Portimao but instead settled into second place ahead of Joan Mir.
Aleix Espargaro finished fourth for Aprilia, while Franco Morbidelli finished fifth – the same position he’s starting the third race of the year today.
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The second Lenovo Ducati from Francesco Bagnaia, who has to work from 11th place this afternoon, landed in sixth place.
World Cup leader Zarco was seventh. The Frenchman is four points ahead of the Yamahas of Quartararo and Maverick Vinales, and it was Vinales who finished eighth one place back.
The top ten were rounded off by Brad Binder’s KTM in ninth place and Danilo Petrucci in tenth place.
Marc Marquez was the last rider on the track as he missed most of the session. The eight-time world champion completed only three flying laps.
As expected, Marquez expects a tough race with 25 laps in a row – a distance the arm hasn’t covered in nine months. For this reason, the Spaniard has chosen not to attach too much importance to the warm-up training.
It’s been a tough morning for Takaaki Nakagami as he struggled again with his injuries from Friday.
The Japanese first set off, but could not finish the session after a few laps and was visibly uncomfortable sitting in the pit lane.