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Marc Márquez has put things in place in qualifying for the Portuguese Grand Prix of MotoGP by starring in a real exhibition on the way to his sixty-fourth "pole position" in the category and the 92nd in his sports career.

After having to abort several fast lap attempts to find yellow flags as a result of the falls of other riders, Marc Márquez was "hooked" in the wake of the Ducati Desmosedici of the Italian Enea Bastianini already with the checkered flag waving and on the finish straight, to get a 1: 37.226 that gave him his first "pole position" since the one obtained in Japan 2022, then in the rain.

The strong fall of Pol Espargaró during the first day of practice of the Portuguese Grand Prix of MotoGP forced a first and quick reaction of the organization of the championship, which on this second day had already installed the "air fence" or air fenders at the critical points of turn ten.

Before reaching the end of the free practice session there were a series of mishaps, without physical consequences for its protagonists, in which the Italians Luca Marini (Ducati Desmosedici GP22) were involved, after going out on track in their passage through workshops, and Enea Bastianini (Ducati Desmosedici GP23), who tested the hardness of the asphalt in turn five of Portimao, while his teammate Francesco "Pecco" Bagnaia (Ducati Desmosedici GP23), did it at turn one.

The first qualifying to establish the starting order both in the sprint race on Saturday and in the grand prix on Sunday began just ten minutes later and in it the "pass" to the second classification pilots of the relevance of the two members of the Repsol Honda team, Marc Márquez and Joan Mir, were "played". as well as Alex Márquez (Ducati Desmosedici GP22) and Alex Rins (Honda RC 213 V).

Márquez left no room for doubt and in his second lap he already rolled in 1: 37.675, which was the absolute record of the circuit for the MotoGP category, and 34 tenths of a second faster than the time achieved yesterday by the best in the category, the Australian Jack Miller (KTM RC 16), 1: 37.709.

The Repsol Honda rider got his time just behind the slipstream of his own teammate, Joan Mir, who achieved the second fastest record at the same moment with 1:38.975.

But Joan Mir did not last long the second place because the local idol, Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia RS-GP), snatched it on his third lap, with a Marc Márquez by then very attentive to the monitors and that seeing that his time seemed unattainable for his rivals, he decided to stay in his workshop so as not to take more unnecessary risks because his pass to the second classification was literally sentenced.

Together with Marc Márquez Miguel Oliveira went to the second classification, who had to see them in the final stretch with an Alex Márquez who tried by all means, although unsuccessfully, to overcome the Lusitanian driver.

The Australian Jack Miller did not take long to recover the record because in his first outing on track, in the second turn, he marked a 1: 37.549 that placed him first with four tenths of advantage over the Italian "Pecco" Bagnaia and the Frenchman Johann Zarco (Ducati Desmosedici GP23), while the Spanish Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia RS-GP) was going through the floors in sector four, curve thirteen.

Marc Márquez put his effort to improve the tenth place he occupied then, but the fall of Espargaró made him have to loosen up and have to opt for a new attempt of fast lap.

At another point of the circuit it was Jack Miller who became the protagonist when rolling on the ground in turn three and although he tried to start the bike he could not finish the qualifying run.

"Pecco" Bagnaia was the next to "jump to the fore" with a spectacular lap of 1: 37.290, new record and provisional "pole position" with barely a minute of session left.

And that minute was masterful for Marc Márquez, who despite having to abort his fastest lap attempts on a couple of occasions, literally flew in the wake of Italian Enea Bastianini to get his first "pole position" of the season, with 64 thousandths of a second over Bagnaia.

With them on the first row will be Jorge Martín, while in the second are Miguel Oliveira, Jack Miller and Enea Bastianini, with Maverick Viñales (Aprilia RS-GP), Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati Desmosedici GP22) and Luca Marini in the third, and Johan Zarco, Fabio Quartararo and Aleix Espargaró in the fourth.

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  • Marc Marquez
  • Aleix Espargaro
  • Ministry of Defence
  • Pol Espargaro