Heavy overnight rain left the Portuguese circuit covered in sand and dust for the start of Friday’s track action, with the first Moto3 practiced red-flagged and then canned due to the conditions.
Things improved enough for the first Moto2 session to run to schedule, with the opening 45-minute practice for the MotoGP class following.
However, lap times were over three seconds off the lap record from last year, leading to a largely unrepresentative session.
Marquez, two weeks on from a solid Ducati debut, led the times after firing in a 1m40.484s on his final flying lap on his Gresini-run GP23.
The eight-time grand prix world champion sat atop the times at various points of FP1 as he continues his adaptation to the Ducati, with Marquez admitting coming into this weekend that he would be “starting from zero” again.
He led the way by 0.165 seconds from Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, who is carrying a mild illness into the Portuguese GP.
Source: Autosport