Truly everything happened in the last three laps of the Portuguese MotoGP Grand Prix, but from start to finish there was only one constant: Jorge Martin in front of everyone. This time the Prima Pramac Racing standard bearer started on the attack, took the lead from the first corner and never gave it up until the checkered flag.
“Martinator” therefore took home his first success of the season, his sixth career victory in the premier class, and takes the championship lead on a Sunday in which the most accredited opponents hurt themselves. In fact, there will be discussion about the contact that ousted Pecco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez with three laps to go, when the two were fighting for fifth position.
To be honest, the race of both had been quite disappointing, because they had never managed to get into the battle for the podium, despite having shown an interesting pace for almost the entire weekend. At turn 5 then came the big blow: Marc tried to slip inside and went wide. Bagnaia then threw himself back in, but the meeting of the trajectories made contact inevitable.
And the two will have to talk about it with the commissioners after the race to understand if it is a racing accident or if someone will be found guilty. What is certain is that the race for the title is uphill for both, because Pecco is already 23 points behind Martin and Marc instead finds himself -33.
The twists and turns of the finale, however, didn't end there, because for 23 of the 24 laps scheduled there was Maverick Vinales behind Martin, who was confirming the good things he had done yesterday with the Sprint victory. Just as he was starting the last lap, however, the Roses rider was betrayed by a failure suffered by his Aprilia, which then also led him to a fall at turn 1. A real shame both for him and for the manufacturer. Noale, who deserved better luck.
Enea Bastianini was ready to take advantage of this, third for practically the entire race, and after the pole position he secured his first podium of the season with second place. A result that also places him in third place in the World Championship, 21 points behind Martin, and which goes a bit to close the circle on a track on which he fractured his scapula last year, putting his 2023 uphill .
The real surprise of the day, however, is the name of the driver who inherited third place, because rookie Pedro Acosta achieved his first podium in the second race in the premier class. And what a race, because in any case it is true that he was favored by Vinales' KO, but he was already fourth with merit, having fought on equal terms and overtaken two sacred monsters like Marquez and Bagnaia. All without showing any awe.
To this we must add that he beat the two official KTMs of Brad Binder and Jack Miller by over five seconds. Yet another proof that we will hear a lot and for a long time about the “Mazarron shark”. However, the Austrian manufacturer can smile, because Binder is now in second place in the world championship standings, 18 points behind Martin.
The sixth place finish straightens out an unconvincing race for Marco Bezzecchi, who once again had a bad start, finding himself swallowed up in the group. If nothing else, he made a good comeback, which saw him finish ahead of Fabio Quartararo's Yamaha, which once again had a gap of over 20″ today, and Aleix Espargaro's Aprilia, who wasn't at the top of his game in Portugal. teammate's height.
Top 10 also for Fabio Di Giannantonio, who ultimately placed tenth with the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Ducati, also behind the Aprilia of local idol Miguel Oliveira. Honda also took a few points, with Joan Mir finishing 12th, but almost half a minute behind the winner. However, Luca Marini and Franco Morbidelli were out of the points and were the last two riders to reach the finish line, with the latter having also suffered a fall in the very early stages.
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