Welcome to the picturesque southwestern tip of Portugal and the undulating, deceptively narrow Portimão, Algarve circuit! Overlooking the North Atlantic, this awesome beauty woke up in a decidedly dirty mood this weekend, with rain causing serious grip issues and bringing stress about the possible incoming weather.

Friday   FP1

1. M. Marquez, Gresini Ducati GP23   -1:40.484
2. M. Vinales, Aprilia Racing RS-GP     -1:40.649
3. B. Binder, Red Bull KTM RC16            -1:40.689
4. J. Miller, Red Bull KTM RC16                -1:40.840
5. F. Morbidelli, Pramac Ducati GP24 -1:40.861

The riders were still working their way through cleaning the track and finding the most workable line around for much of the starting session. With Moto3 being called off and Moto2 still dealing with all the residual dust from the rainstorm, MotoGP were still in unknown territory for this session. Franco Morbidelli proved he still has some confidence to go fast after his injurious fall on a Ducati superbike at this very track just months ago, carrying that pace through to the end of this session. Marc Marquez continues to continue to impress, showing quick form from the get-go and finishing on top by the conclusion, impressing all the truckers on the other side of his CB Radio. Brad Binder steadily made his way up the timesheets during FP1, picking up spots lap after lap until the end. After a very successful Qatar weekend, the aggressive South African looks at home on the RC16. Jack Miller needed a big weekend and he really started Friday in impressive fashion, giving the viewers an otherworldly motocross style jump and picking up a fourth just behind his teammate. Quietly, Maverick Vinales landed in second on the other-other Euro rocket, showing a spark after a ho-hum Qatar race. FP1 was a subdued test of confidence for the whole field and FP2 should really show us real pace.

Friday Practice

1. E. Bastianini, Ducati Leonovo GP24 -1:38.057
2. J. Miller, Red Bull KTM RC16                   -1:38.175
3. M. Marquez, Gresini Ducati GP23      -1:38.210
4. J. Martin, Pramac Ducati GP24            -1:38.288
5. B. Binder, Red Bull KTM RC16                -1:38.387

Grey skies met the teams for the afternoon session, but the temperatures stayed good and the lap times were more like usual from the very start. While the racing line cleaned up plenty from the earlier dust, getting off line at all meant the dust really kicks up, causing immediate and aggressive loss of grip. Rider aggressiveness pays off especially at this rollercoaster circuit though, and the top group were all able to let their bikes move around a lot and find where the traction is. Marquez, Martin and the KTM duo all found the limit early and really put their stamp on the entire session. Enea Bastianini hit the front with 11:30ish minutes to go and that time stayed good until the end of FP2. The final five minutes started with the Marquez bro’s hooking up to follow Pecco and then Morbidelli crashed, rider ok. Jack Miller is the first to put in a last gasp charge and moves into second place as Marc Marquez loses the front at turn 5 and Luca Marini tosses it down the road right after, riders salty. Fabio Quartararo and Pecco Bagnaia couldn’t do much more than just get into the top 10 but did slide through into Q2. Bezzecchi put in a good try and will go on, as well as Alex Rins just making it in tenth place. Pedro Acosta had a fair shot until right at the end and landed in 11^th place but look for him to clear the hurdle into Q2 tomorrow. Jack Miller crashed lightly right at the beginning of the session. During the last dash for Q2, Aleix Espargaro and Alex Marquez hit the deck at the same time in separate incidents with 11 minutes to go.

Saturday FP2

1. M. Vinales, Aprilia Racing RS-GP24       -1:38.720
2. P. Acosta, GASGAS RC16                             -1:39.015
3. A. Espargaro, Aprilia Racing RS-GP24  – 1:39.208
4. M. Marquez, Gresini Ducati GP23           – 1:39.256
5. R. Fernandez, Trackhouse RS-GP23     – 1:39.401

Saturday morning was the Maverick Vinales and Pedro Acosta show, as both riders emerged at the front early into the session and remained there throughout, Vinales holding the lead followed by Acosta in 2^nd place. Mav’s teammate Aleix Espargaro made amends for Friday’s slow pace, lapping up to 3^rd position, albeit with some off-track excursions. Marc Marquez picked up where he left off yesterday, not always taking the top spot but consistently pushing the pace for the whole field, the Gresini rider ending up 4^th. Trackhouse racing’s Raul Fernandez really showed up strong in Saturday practice, landing a spot in the top 5. Bagnaia and Quatararo kept up their leaderboard magnetism, finishing 7^th and 8^th respectively.  

Saturday Q1

1. A. Marquez, Gresini Ducati GP23 -1:38.060
2. P. Acosta, GASGAS RC16                  -1:38.065

Alex Marquez has shown really fast pace at Portugal in the past and he used those good vibes to clear Q1. Marc Marquez….er I mean Pedro Acosta looked exceedingly confident and aggressive to move into Q2. Aleix Espargaro, Miguel Oliveira and Fabio Di Giannantonio all took their shots late and all came up short in the end. The rolling bumps are really obvious now, affecting everyone on the brakes and on turn in.

Saturday Q2

1. E. Bastianini, Ducati Lenovo GP24  -1:37.706
2. M. Vinales, Aprilia Racing RS-GP24 -1:37.788
3. J. Martin, Pramac Ducati GP24          -1:37.812
4. F. Bagnaia, Ducati Lenovo GP24       -1:37.922
5. J. Miller, Red Bull KTM RC16                 -1:38.032

Mark Marquez was out on his own early, looking good and pushing on a fast lap when coming down one of the many hills and tipping it to the right he loses the front very quickly. Marquez goes down hard. It was a really strange crash, as soon as he got on the brakes and didn’t really turn in, he was on the ground already, rider ok. Brad Binder crashes coming out of turn 5 and he has the rare rear end low side just after Mark Marquez crashes. Around 9 minutes to go and Bagnaia goes under a 1:38 to take the lead. Marc Marquez ran back to his pits to get on his backup bike, but we’ve seen him do this before. With five minutes to go Marquez is back out, as is the rest of the field to put in their last few fast laps. Martin and Bastianini put in late flyers, with Enea taking pole and Martin just barely making it onto the front row. Vinales (who came into the weekend with severe sniffles) kept being fast and split the Ducati’s for second spot. Bagnaia finished up his slow rise over the opening two days, finishing Q2 in 4^th position. Jack Miller ends up surprise fastest of the KTM/GASGAS bikes, starting the races in 5^th followed by Bezzecchi and the ever-impressing Pedro Acosta. Marc Marquez saves a lot of grief after his early fast crash, ending up in 8^th spot. Brad Binder couldn’t translate his early fast pace in the practices to qualifying, he starts a disappointing 10^th place for the races.

Saturday Sprint Race Lap by Lap

1. Enea pulls a bit of a wheelie off the line leaving room for Jack Miller to take his inside trajectory. Maverick Vinales charges past them both to steal the hole shot, quickly being passed in the next corner by Miller. Vinales mostly closed the door but Jack really squeezed his way through. Down the big waterfall hill, it’s Jack Miller leading a way out of shape Pecco Bagnaia, followed by Vinales, Bastianini, Marquez and Martin.
2. Across the line, and Marquez is up into 4^th. Miller had a couple of moments early into the second lap, keeping a front group from really forming. Marquez makes an incredible move on Vinales, rubbing leathers on tires through two corners to put Gresini Marc into 3^rd spot. Bastianini and Martin get into it towards the end of the lap, running into each other as Enea tries to go through.
3. Pecco passes the KTM of Miller across the line and immediately starts to make a gap. Miller looks like he’s holding the rest up and having real problems on turn in. Marquez through on Jack Miller halfway through lap 3 and Marc goes on the hunt for the number one. Vinales and Martin look to pass Miller as well. Acosta in 9^th spot and Brad Binder in 7^th behind Bastianini. In separate incidents, Alex Rins and Johann Zarco crash with 9 to go, riders ok.
4. Brad Binder has his second crash of the day followed by Fabio Di Giannantonio crashing in turn 11, riders ok.
5. Acosta makes it past Espargaro into 7^th spot. Marc Marquez has a big moment with the back end wanting to come around at the same place he crashed at yesterday but keeps it together. Maverick Vinales is up to second place.
6. Bagniaia has a lead of over a second to Maverick, and Marc Marquez, followed closely by the Pramac Ducati of Jorge Martin. Martin makes an aggressive move on Marquez for 3^rd, while Jack Miller looks to have righted the ship and stays top 5.
7. The top group has spread out a little as the ‘King of the Sprints’ tries his hand at catching up to Pecco but he must go through a very consistent Maverick Vinales.  Martin goes six tenths of a second quicker than Bagnaia as the leader settles into a race pace.
8. Positions 2^nd through 6^th all set personal best laps on lap 6and are catching the number one Ducati rider. Martin is not going to easily pass Vinales at all, the Aprilia rider both sliding the rear when helpful and still able to launch the motorcycle out of the last sweeping corner onto the front straight.
9. Coming into turn one, Pecco Bagnaia has a wobble on the brakes, running wide and letting through the next three riders. Pecco in 4^th and a second and a half down from Vinales. Martin and Marquez are right there for the win and unfortunately Bagnaia is probably too far down to make a go before the end.
10. Three laps to go and Maverick leads a stalking Martin, Jorge is pushing hard and doing his best Haga impression. Marquez is a few bike lengths away from the duel but fully capable of pipping a win.
11. Two laps to go and the top three are clear of Pecco. Martin keeps up the pressure where he can, but Vinales is running wide sweeping lines to pull away from the much more aggressive Pramac rider. Martin runs wide towards the end of the lap letting Marquez close up but not giving up the spot.
12. Vinales has a half a second lead over Jorge Martin who is still being hounded closely by Marc Marquez. Down the big hill, Jorge Martin runs it in a little wide and Marquez helps finish the job by pushing him out of the way for second place. Maverick Vinales wins, Marc Marquez finishes 2^nd place in his second sprint race on Ducati and Jorge Martin ran out of laps to get a pass back on Marquez, look for these guys to finish their tiff tomorrow.

Sunday MotoGP Race – Lap by Lap

1. Jorge Martin takes the hole-shot through turn one while Jack Miller has a wheelie coming off the line that leaves him down in 5th place through the first few turns. The factory Ducati’s get split going into turn 3 by an Aprilia piloted by Maverick Vinales, pushing Bagnaia into 4th spot. Down the waterfall it is Martin leading Bastianini, Vinales, Pecco and Marquez goes through on Jack Miller for 5th. Marquez followed up that pass with a couple of rough up passes on Bagania (who himself had some contact with Enea.) Halfway through the first lap, Morbidelli goes down.
2. Across the line, Martin has a sizeable gap already while Vinales and Bastianini fight for second, Pecco and Marc follow. Jack Miller in 6th place and Pedro Acosta passes Brad Binder for 7th spot. Alex Marquez crashes. That will be extra disappointing because he had a good weekend going. The ‘number 1’ Gresini rider gently tucked the front at Craig Jones corner (turn 9.) The top ten are spreading out and everything is getting pretty subdued with the front group.
3. Same group coming over the start/finish; 89,12,23,1,93,43,31,33,20,42,88,72,37, et al. Pedro Acosta having a nice start, sitting between the two KTM’s of Miller and Binder for the first few laps and already pressing and looking at a place to pass Aussie Jack at turn three, Acosta runs wide and Binder takes his place.
4. Onto the start/finish line, Maverick takes a few tenths out of Jorge while Marquez and Bagnaia are bearing down on Bastianini. Acosta doesn’t take much of a break and is, again, pushing Binder at every corner. Raul Fernandez crashes at turn 8. The top five are evenly spaced by the run to the line.
5. Brad Binder makes a pass on Miller, who tries to leave the brakes off, but Jack ends up running a little wide, letting the GASGAS through. Pedro Acosta immediately makes a lunge on Binder at the next corner. That mistake by Jack Miller really created at gap between Acosta and himself by the front straight. Pedro drafts past Binder across the line…
6. …but it’s Brad Binder and he out-brakes the MotoGP rookie into turn one. The Ducati’s are incrementally catching up to the Prima Pramac of Martin. Pedro Acosta is really hanging it out and trying to make a move on Binder. While everyone else on track has settled into race-pace, the new sensation is making for some real entertainment.
7. 89, (+.347) 12, (+.432) 23,1,93, (+.588), 33,31 followed by 43,20,42,88,72…. Pedro Acosta makes an awesome move into turn one, out braking Binder on those rolling bumps and running it to the edge of the rumble strips, brilliant! Acosta is now on the hunt for Marc Marquez who is starting to catch the red bikes.
8. Pedro Acosta makes another incredible move, his best of the day! Coming across the line Pedro catches Marc, gets it sideways and runs it deep into the corner running just a little wide. Marquez tries hard to cut under, but Pedro keeps the place through turn two and into the tight right-hander then backs it in going down the hill a few corners later. Acosta has so much confidence in those tires, great lap!
9. Jorge Martin is just about caught by Maverick and has Enea coming up to him. There is a gap to Pecco, the charging Acosta and Marquez with another gap to the first of the KTM’s. Acosta is looking for a pass already on Bagnaia.
10. Acosta doesn’t go for it into turn one, but it is starting to bunch up behind the reigning champion. 16 laps to go and down the waterfall hill, there are two groups of three making up your top six and steady Eddie throughout the rest of the field.
11. Same, same. Pedro Acosta is really letting the back end move around on corner entry and mid-corner. On the long sweeper coming onto the front straight, Acosta is tight to the curb the whole way around helping him to make up a lot of ground before they can even spool up for the straightaway.
12. Pedro goes for a move into turn one on Pecco, who himself is a demon on the brakes. He pushes the rear, then the front off throttle, and damn near crashes it on the curb, foot off the peg. Rider does not complete pass. Marquez is getting a fantastic show featuring himself in the future. Acosta mostly calms down for the rest of the lap.
13. 13th lap with 13 to go. The top three are all very planted. The Beast runs his personal best lap. Martin runs his personal best lap. Pecco runs the fastest lap of the race, a 1:38.830.
14. Down the waterfall and Jorge opens up his lead to around a second to Maverick. Your top six are: 89, (+1.0) 12,23, (+1.4), 1, 31, 93, (+1.2) 33.
15. Going into turn five, Acosta can run it so much tighter, digging into the apex and picking the bike up to get on the gas than can Pecco on his Ducati. Martin has livened up his pace a little to keep up his dominance today, setting personal bests on consecutive laps.
16. Martin and Vinales both go 1:38.8xx’s on lap fifteen. 1:38.9xx’s for both Enea and Pecco. Going into turn one Acosta runs deep and over the curb onto the green paint but keeps it together and doesn’t lose a place.
17. Vinales has the new fastest lap with a 1:38.818, gap to Martin down to half a second. Gap between Bastianini and Bagnaia/Acosta up to +1.7 seconds.
18. Down the waterfall, Martin picks up +0.25 and there is almost +2 seconds between factory Ducati’s Enea Bastianini and Pecco Bagnaia.
19. Acosta is very close to Pecco but doesn’t quite make a move yet. He’s keeping stuck like glue to the apex at every corner. Seven laps to go and Martin just pulls a tenth here and a tenth there to keep ahead of Vinales who has done the same to the rider behind him.
20. Bastianini sets the fastest lap of the race by just tenths. Marquez is starting to gain some ground on the Pecco/Pedro battle. Over the hill, Acosta backs it in way sideways and Pecco runs a little wide at the bottom of the hill.
21. Martin has run several 1:38’s in a row, like another Jorge that rides bikes fast. Five laps to go. Turn three and Pedro makes a surprise lunge on Pecco, hitting that apex tight and preventing the Ducati rider to cut back across at the next uphill left hander. Bagnaia now has Marquez to contend with, who then has a moment rehearsing a move at turn thirteen.
22. Enea Bastianini sets a 1:38.685 on lap twenty-one and further closes the gap to Vinales to a half a second. Marquez is close and looking for a place to pass Bagnaia but keeps calm for this lap.
23. Three laps to go. Turn six Marquez makes a good move on Bagnaia, runs it a little wide and starts to cut back across the racing line (he was just barely wide of the line), Pecco goes to cut under Marc, and they touch. Both riders down and Bagnaia is in disbelief. That now makes the top five: Jorge Martin (89), Maverick Vinales (12), Enea Bastianini (23), Pedro Acosta (31) and Brad KTM Binder (33).
24. Two laps to go. Bastianini is really closing on Maverick Vinales as Martin keeps his gap to both at over a second. Coming onto the front straight the Aprilia hugs the inside curb and gets a much better drive coming out of the corner than the Ducati.
25. Vinales has a problem coming across the line, slows going into turn one and Enea Bastianini goes past him. Maverick then high-sides it after running off the track. Strange crash, his Aprilia just flicked him off as he was slowing, completely off the curbs. That promotes Pedro Acosta into 3rd position in his second MotoGP race. The two KTM’s make it to 4th and 5th and benefit bigly from all the late race attrition. Marco Bezzecchi ended up with a solid result in 6th place and Fabio Quartararo also finds himself in a good position of 7th place. Jorge Martin wins by a gap of +0.882 To Enea Bastianini followed by Acosta over five seconds back.

Portugal produces 70% of the world’s cork in the world’s largest cork forest! Wow!