The Portuguese MotoGP Grand Prix, which ended this Sunday, March 26, had 123.608 spectators at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, in Portimão.
The test ended with the victory of world champion Francesco Bagnaia, but before that there was a lot of story to tell.
Marc Marquez took the lead but, still in the first passage through the 4592 meters of the Algarve circuit, Miguel Oliveira raised the stands when he took the first position at the controls of his Aprilia.
With Miguel Oliveira at the head of the field, the Portuguese party was short-lived, since, on the second lap, a mistake by Marc Marquez, when braking for turn 3, left both drivers out of the race.
The stands responded with a chorus of whistles to the Spaniard who ended up apologizing to the Portuguese.
Jorge Martin was also hopelessly late and the lead of the race was in the hands of Francesco Bagnaia, who never let go until he took the checkered flag in first position ahead of Maverick Viñales and Marco Bezzecchi, with the former trying for many laps. , unsuccessfully, to pass Bagnaia and the second to rise in the classification until he definitively settled in that position on the sixth lap.
Behind these, a luxury quartet formed with Alex Marquez, Jack Miller, Brad Binder and Johan Zarco and, among several changes of positions in the final phase, a fight in which Aleix Espargaró was also involved, it was even Zarco in the last corner who surprised the take fourth place after passing Alex Marquez.
Bagnaia thus proved to be the strongest over the weekend by winning an expressive 62 points at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, thus kicking off the year of defending the title in a perfect way.
Before MotoGP, there were races reserved for the Moto 3 and Moto 2 classes.
In Moto 3, victory went to Daniel Holgado after an intense duel that saw more than a dozen riders in direct combat. The Spanish driver got the better of David Muñoz and Diogo Moreira, the Brazilian driver who was on the podium for the first time in the championship.
In Moto 2, there were also moments of intensity, but the race ended up being dominated by Pedro Acosta, who led most of the day ahead of Aron Canet and Tony Arbolino.
The Autódromo Internacional do Algarve is now preparing to host, on the 14th, 15th and 16th of April, the second stage of the WEC, the competitive endurance world championship, which will feature António Félix da Costa.
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