Quartararo back on top after Portugal MotoGP win

Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha) went from fifth on MotoGP’s point’s ladder to first after a dominant win at Portugal’s Portimao circuit. Despite being a dry race, rain lashed at the undulating circuit all weekend, with race day’s morning warm-up session the first time many riders had fitted slicks to their GP machines across the three days.

Not Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) though, whose gamble on slick tyres during drying conditions in qualifying landed him in pole position ahead of Joan Mir (Suzuki Ecstar) and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing). And while Mir got the holeshot to lead the opening handful of laps of the race, it was his teammate Alex Rins, starting back in 23rd, who made the lightning start, moving up 13 places during the opening lap to find himself in 10th to start lap two.

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Mir led over the line to start the fourth lap, but Fabio Quartararo used the slipstream to ease past the Suzuki rider into Turn 1 and take the lead and, while we didn’t know it at the time, it would prove to be the race-winning move for the Frenchman. His compatriot Zarco didn’t get the start he would have wanted, but was still in podium contention in third place as the race began to settle and, with Aussie Jack Miller (Lenovo Ducati Team) breathing down the satellite rider’s neck, Zarco was the quickest man on track. Until Quartararo found his groove and trademark consistency, that is.

With 15 laps to go, Quartararo was lapping almost half a second quicker than the chasing pack, helped by the battle for the remaining two podium spots. Zarco and Mir were at each other for second, themselves a second or so clear of Miller, but with 10 to go, Miller was on Zarco’s rear tyre and Aleix Espargaro in fifth was lapping half a second quicker than all three.

The Aprilia rider was looking through red mist after some aggressive moves and contact from a fast-starting Alex Marquez (LCR Honda), the veteran eventually breaking clear of the four-rider battle for fifth which included Rins and hometown hero Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM).

Further ahead, Zarco disposed of Mir for second as Miller began lining up the same move at the end of the straight a few laps later. The Aussie powered past Mir on the straight to start lap 19 and, as he squeezed the brake to get his GP22 stopped into Turn 1, locked the front, crashed out of the race and took Mir with him.

That elevated the elder Espargaro brother to third but remarkably, Rins was now in fourth – from 23rd on the grid, ahead of Oliveira. Quartararo crossed the line 6.2 seconds clear of Zarco, with Aleix Espargaro holding off Rins for the final podium place.

It was a difficult day for Ducati, with both Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati), championship leader Enea Bastianini (Gresini Ducati) and Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Ducati) also joining Miller in a Portuguese gravel trap. And Honda, too, with Repsol teammates at one stage battling hard for ninth before brothers Marc and Alex had an epic battle to the line for sixth (which the eight-time world champ only just won) albeit 20 seconds behind Quartararo. Aussie Remy Gardner (Tech3 KTM) likened the race to FP1 after his 14th-place finish.

The results mean that Quartararo (69) and Rins (69) are now on equal points at the top of the standings, three points clear of Aleix Espargaro (66). Bastianini (61) falls to fourth but stays 10 points clear of Zarco (51) in fifth.

Joe Roberts (American Racing Team) became the first American to celebrate victory in an intermediate grand prix since John Kosinski did it in 1990 in Australia. He did it from the front row of a restarted seven-lap Moto2 dash, after a chaotic rain-effected race saw no less than 11 riders crash at the same corner on slicks, bringing out the red flag on just the ninth lap.

And according to the rulebook, to be eligible for a restarted race, a rider must enter pit lane within five minutes of the red flag being thrown – none of which any of the strewn riders could do, such was the level of chaos.

Luck was not on pole man, race leader and championship contender Aron Canet’s (Flexbox HP40) side when he was the first to hit the damp patch on slick tyres and was launched over the ’bars first. He was the worst hurt, too, suffering a broken arm just one week out from the next round in Jerez. Nor was luck on the side of 10 other riders who were forced to miss the restart, names like Honda Team Asia teammates Ai Ogura and Somkiat Chantra, Marc VDS Racing duo of Tony Arbolino and Sam Lowes, or Red Bull KTM Ajo pairing of Augusto Fernandez and Pedro Acosta, forced to sit and watch the seven-lap sprint from their box.

But luck did help championship leader Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46). The Italian started the day lamenting his poor qualifying position of 13th only to be thanking his lucky stars nine laps later that he was mired down the pack and not involved in the incident. It meant he lined up in the restart on the outside of the front row alongside Roberts and Jake Dixon (GasGas Aspar).

Dixon got the holeshot, desperate to back up his maiden podium with a debut win, but he slid out seven corners into the race, allowing Roberts to run away with a convincing four-second win. Further back, it was a four-way battle for remaining podium spots between Jorge Navarro (Flexbox HP40), Marcel Schrotter (liquid Moly Intact), Vietti and Manuel Gonzalez (VR46 Master Camp). And Vietti dug deep to make the most of his championship rivals’ bad days and pushed through for a strong second place and 20 vital championship points ahead of Navarro.

With 90 points, it means Vietti now heads to Jerez with a 34-point advantage over Ogura (56). Arbolino (54) is third ahead of Roberts (49) and Canet (49) who are now fourth and fifth on equal points.

Aspar GasGas rider Sergio Garcia led the leading group of five riders over the line to win the Portuguese Moto3 Grand Prix and take a one-point advantage at the top of the standings. His title rival Dennis Foggia (Leopard Honda) spent most of the race outside of the top 10 but mustered an eighth-place finish by the flag.

After 21 laps, the top five were eventually covered by just three tenths of a second, but joining Garcia on the podium was Aspar teammate Izan Guevara and Ayumu Sasaki (Max Racing Husqvarna), with pole man Deniz Oncu (Tech 3 KTM) and Jaume Masia (Ajo KTM) just missing out. Aussie Joel Kelso (CIP Green Power) scored his best finish of the season in ninth.

Garcia (83) now leads Foggia (82), with Masia (54) climbing to third ahead of Rivacold Sniper’s Andrea Migno (50) and Oncu (50).