MOTO GP

Quartararo on top for the first time in Portimão

Frenchman Fabio Quartararo took his first victory of 2022 at the Portuguese Grand Prix, flying at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão(image above) to win alone with Frenchman Johann Zarco and Spaniard Aleix Espargaró. With this result, Quartararo becomes leader equal in points to Álex Rins, three points to Aleix and eight to Enea Bastianini, who fell.

Joan Mir made a fantastic start to take first and Fabio Quartararo took second putting the bike to Johann Zarco, who also lost positions with Jack Miller and Álex Márquez. The one who made an impressive start was Álex Rins, who entered the top 10 beating a discreet Marc Márquez.

Zarco recovered and regained third position against Miller to try to go to Mir and Quartararo, who were starting to gain a few meters. The Yamaha rider had incredible pace and managed to overtake Suzuki, who saw how Zarco came from behind, cutting the distance as he released Miller.

Marc Márquez made it to the top 10 after overtaking Jorge Martín, who soon after crashed, starring in the first crash of the race. Shortly after, Márquez passed his teammate Pol Espargaró, who appeared to be doing some blocking. The Granollers escaped, but finally the eighth champion managed to consolidate the overtake.

However, he was already more than three seconds behind the quartet formed by Álex Márquez, Aleix Espargaró, Álex Rins and Miguel Oliveira; which Jack Miller escaped to try to contact the duo formed by Mir and Zarco. Further and further away was Quartararo, whose advantage already reached two seconds.

The second crash of the day was led by MotoGP leader to date, Enea Bastianini, when he passed Pol Espargaró and tried to follow Marc Márquez. Almost immediately Takaaki Nakagami, who was in the same group, fell to the ground after touching Brad Binder. At least the Japanese managed to get back into the race. Several laps later it was Brad Binder who crashed.

With Quartararo in his own world, the excitement went for second place. There, Zarco managed to pass Mir on the second attempt after slipping on the first, a fight that allowed Aleix Espargaró to arrive… who was on the podium when, with six laps to go, Jack Miller launched himself inside Joan Mir at turn one, he lost the control of his Ducati and in its fall overthrew Suzuki.

Not content with that, Aleix Espargaró set his sights on Johann Zarco to threaten his second position; while in sixth the Hondas of Álex Márquez, Marc Márquez and Pol Espargaró were joined by Pecco Bagnaia, who was coming up from the last position on the grid.

Fabio Quartararo did not fail and won his first victory of the year with more than five seconds despite having started on the last lap, and finally Johann Zarco got the second position ahead of Aleix Espargaró, who ended up finishing in the box with the entry of Álex Rins fourth and Miguel Oliveira fifth in front of their audience.

It seemed clear that the top 6 would be made up of the six different brands and it only remained to be seen which would be the first Honda. The answer was Marc Márquez, who defeated his brother Álex Márquez in a beautiful one-on-one, with Pecco Bagnaia beating Pol Espargaró in a frantic submission and Maverick Viñales rounding out the top ten.

Fabio Quartararo and Álex Rins are tied on 69 points, with the Frenchman leading with a win. Aleix Espargaró is three points behind with Enea Bastianini eight. 

Autonews