Clean sweep for Pecco in Portugal

Pecco Bagnaia picked up where he left off last year to score maximum points in a new-look 2023 MotoGP World Championship at Portimao (Portugal) last weekend. Kicking off his campaign with 12 points for victory in the Sprint race, the reigning world champ backed it up in the following day’s full-length grand prix to bank the maximum 37 points. And while the end result isn’t a surprising one, such is the dominance of Bagnaia and his Team Lenovo Ducati squad, the series’ curtain raiser threw up plenty of surprise, intrigue and even injury as the field came to grips with the new-look format for 2023.

It started when Jack Miller (Red Bull KTM) topped the opening day’s two practice sessions, results which now determine the riders a direct berth into Q2, where he even looked in with a shot of pole position on his KTM debut if it wasn’t for a crash late in the session. But not before a heavy crash from Pol Espargaro (GasGas Factory Racing Tech3) caused a lengthy stoppage to proceedings after the Spaniard sustained injuries to his head, chest and spine that will sideline the GasGas rider for some time.

Pole position went, somewhat surprisingly, to a rejuvenated Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda), who tagged onto the back of his quick-learning teammate Joan Mir to post his pole-winning time. And as the lights went out to signal the start of Saturday afternoon’s frantic Sprint race, it was great to see the #93 back to his old front-running ways.

After a solid third position behind Pecco and Prima Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin in the Sprint, the 30-year-old Repsol Honda rider’s confidence was high when he launched off the line to start the Portuguese Grand Prix on Sunday. But he was erratic, trying too hard to overcome the shortcomings of his Honda RC213V.

There was contact in the early stages between himself and Martin, with the home hero Miguel Oliveira (RNF Aprilia) caught up in the drama, but three laps later it would get a lot worse when the Repsol Honda rider locked the front heading into turn three. It meant he was forced to release the brakes, which caused more contact between himself and Martin, but as his bike increased speed and bounced off Martin’s GP23, he slammed hard into Oliveira in second place who was perfectly positioned to fight for a fairytale home victory after qualifying in fourth on his debut with Aprilia.

With Marquez and Oliveira out of the race and Martin down in 19th position, Bagnaia now found himself with a 0.9sec lead with 20 laps left to run, with Maverick Vinales (Aprilia Team), Miller, Marco Bezzechi (Mooney VR46) and Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) all with plenty to prove and in hot pursuit. Bezzechi was the first Ducati to draft past Miller’s RC16 on the straight and a mistake by the Aussie on lap seven allowed the Ducati of Marquez through, as Vinales put his 2023 RS-GP to good use to reduce the gap to Bagnaia.

Further back, Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Ducati) was finding his rhythm to recover from a poor start and had found himself on the back of the battle for fourth, which also included Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing). And while Miller found a way past Alex Marquez on a few occasions, his KTM was no match for the Ducati down the straight. The to-ing and fro-ing meant the three at the front were now long gone, and each now with enough daylight between them to ensure their final finishing positions, as the battle for fourth raged on.

Binder muscled his way past Miller, but a hard-charging Zarco would pass them all in the final stages relegating Marquez to fifth, with Binder and Miller crossing the line in sixth and seventh respectively.

Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha) recovered from a dreadful start which had him as low as 15th on the opening lap. He finished eighth, while Espargaro and Alex Rins (LCR Honda) rounded out the top 10.

Martin failed to see the finish line after a late-race crash and Raul Fernandez (RNF Aprilia) also ended his first GP of 2023 in the gravel, as did Luca Marini (Mooney VR46), who also crashed out of the Sprint race, taking Lenovo Ducati’s Enea Bastianini with him and who will now sit out this weekend’s Round 2 with a broken shoulder.

No such bad luck for Bastianini’s teammate, however, with Bagnaia heading to Argentina’s Termas de Rio Hondo circuit this weekend with the full 37 points, 12 clear of Vinales (25). Bezzechi (14) is in third, despite crashing in the Sprint, ahead of Zarco (15) and Miller (15).

In Moto2 it was Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) who took top honours from Aron Canet (Pons Wegow Los40) and Tony Arbolino (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team), while in Moto3 it was Daniel Holgado (Red Bull KTM Tech3) in first place ahead of David Munoz (BOE Motorsports) and Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI).