Miguel Oliveira led the way from Maverick Viñales as MotoGP began its Portuguese GP weekend with an extended 70 minute free practice session as the premier class got to grips with the new rollercoaster layout aboard their prototype machinery.

Aleix Espargaro, Lorenzo Savadori and Stefan Bradl were the only riders to have already experienced the 4.6km circuit on their race bikes thanks to the October test - the majority having run the layout on production options - with the Aprilia riders using the knowledge firmly to their advantage as they concluded the morning in third and fourth.

Local-hero Miguel Oliveira opened his home weekend at the top of the times after the initial 10 minutes from Jack Miller, Alex Rins, Alex Marquez and the newly-crowned Champion Joan Mir with the Pramac rider taking charge on his eighth lap. Differing fortunes for the Yamaha riders found Viñales heading the times after the first quarter of an hour with Valentino Rossi two seconds adrift and down in 20th, the two Petronas machines circulating in sixth and seventh with question marks hovering over their ageing engines.  

The mid-session saw steady and consistent improvement as the pack began to fine-tune their setups with Mir and Viñales separated by just nine-hundredths as they battled for the lead time. KTM progress was clear to see as both Pol Espargaro and Oliveira circulated in the top-five before the home-talent hit the top with half an hour to go.

Bradl made his prior experience count to head the times with a 1’41.235 at 27’ to go, Espargaro’s Aprilia following suit as he slid into fifth with Franco Morbidelli taking third moments later as two-tenths separated the top-six.

The closing 20 minutes began with Fabio Quartararo back in charge just 0.043 from Bradl as the pair broke the 1’40 barrier, A. Espargaro best of the rest in third ahead of Morbidelli before Rins - battling his shoulder injury at the demanding technical circuit - demoted the latter pair for third. Johann Zarco advanced his satellite Ducati to sixth with 15 minutes left on the clock as Miller sat half a second down in 13th, Andrea Dovizioso narrowly behind, while the remaining red bikes floundered in 16th, 20th and 21st.

Viñales stormed the standings in the closing moments with a 1’40.162 for the fastest ever time around the Algarve venue, as the Aprilia pairing of Espargaro and Savadori claimed an impressive second and third, however, local man Oliveira was not to be outdone, heading the times on his final lap to take the session with a 1’40.122. Fellow KTM rider Espargaro finished fifth from Cal Crutchlow and Mir, with Quartararo, Takaaki Nakagami and Bradl rounding out the top-10. Rins held 11th from Dovizioso and Morbidelli with Zarco concluding the opening 70-minutes in 14th from Marquez, Miller, Francesco Bagnaia and Danillo Petrucci. Valentino Rossi sat 19th at the flag with Brad Binder, Tito Rabat and Iker Lecuona’s stand-in, Mika Kallio, 22nd.  

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