Rennie Scaysbrook | April 24, 2022
Sunday
MotoGP
It was Portimao perfection for Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP’s Fabio Quartararo as he eased to a first win of 2022 and the World Championship lead at the Tissot Grand Prix of Portugal. In a day to remember for France, he was joined on the podium by Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) in second, whilst Aprilia Racing’s Aleix Espargaro benefitted from late drama involving Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) to take third. Quartararo is now tied at the top of the Championship with Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Alex Rins, who put in the ride of the day by recovering from 23rd on the grid to finish fourth.
Quartararo took his first win of 2022 at Portimao.
2022 Portuguese MotoGP Results
| 1 |
Fabio Quartararo |
(Yam) |
|
| 2 |
Johann Zarco |
(Duc) |
+ 5.409 |
| 3 |
Aleix Espargaro |
(Apr) |
+ 6.068 |
| 4 |
Alex Rins |
(Suz) |
+ 9.633 |
| 5 |
Miguel Oliveira |
(KTM) |
+ 13.573 |
| 6 |
Marc Marquez |
(Hon) |
+ 16.163 |
| 7 |
Alex Marquez |
(Hon) |
+ 16.183 |
| 8 |
Francesco Bagnaia |
(Duc) |
+ 16.511 |
| 9 |
Pol Espargaro |
(Hon) |
+ 16.769 |
| 10 |
Maverick Viñales |
(Apr) |
+ 18.063 |
Moto2
It’s been a long time coming but Joe Roberts is finally a grand prix winner.
Italtrans Racing’s Joe Roberts is a Moto2 winner at last after grabbing his golden opportunity in a red-flagged and hugely dramatic intermediate class encounter at the Tissot Grand Prix of Portugal. An isolated rain shower at Turn 2 caught out eleven riders, including the top six at that time, halfway through, which caused the red flags to come out. From the restart, Roberts took full advantage to take a debut win and the first for America in the intermediate class since John Kosinski in 1990. He was joined on the podium by a relived World Championship leader Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing) and Jorge Navarro (FlexBox HP40).
2022 Portuguese Moto2 Results
| 1 |
Joe Roberts |
(Kal) |
|
| 2 |
Celestino Vietti |
(Kal) |
+ 2.818 |
| 3 |
Jorge Navarro |
(Kal) |
+ 2.991 |
| 4 |
Marcel Schrötter |
(Kal) |
+ 3.104 |
| 5 |
Manuel Gonzalez |
(Yam) |
+ 3.199 |
Moto3
Garcia came out on top of a hectic Moto3 race.
Valresa GasGas Aspar Team’s Sergio Garcia dug deep to pull off yet more last lap brilliance to secure a second win of the season at the Tissot Grand Prix of Portugal. After his early breakaway failed, the Spaniard was forced to fight it out with a leading group of five before holding off Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) on the final lap to retake control of the Moto3™ World Championship.
2022 Portuguese Moto3 Results
| 1 |
Sergio Garcia |
(GasGas) |
|
| 2 |
Jaume Masia |
(KTM) |
+ 0.069 |
| 3 |
Ayumu Sasaki |
(Hus) |
+ 0.110 |
| 4 |
Deniz Öncü |
(KTM) |
+ 0.210 |
| 5 |
Izan Guevara |
(GasGas) |
+ 0.373 |
2022 Portuguese MotoGP News—Sunday
Bagnaia’s bang
Saturday’s Q1 session was the trickiest of the year. Not only was it the first time certain riders fitted slick tires all weekend; arguably the track wasn’t dry enough for anything but wets. A succession of falls ensued for riders exiting pit lane on slicks. Among the victims were Pecco Bagnaia, Enea Bastianini, and Remy Gardner, who all suffered fast falls.
Francesco Bagnaia’s spill was a big one.
Bagnaia’s spill was the worst of the lot, with the Italian falling heavily on his right shoulder. A hospital visit showed no breaks, but he remained in a great deal of pain on Saturday evening. Still, he hopes to race. Jack Miller felt his teammate took the slick gamble just a little too early.
“He missed the window by maybe a lap and a half when he crashed,” opined the Australian. “He was one lap and a half too early. (In such conditions) You need a banker lap and that would give you a chance to understand where the wet patches are, what is happening without going out and immediately having to do it on the slicks.”
Bagnaia didn’t set a lap time and will start from 25th should be pass a fitness check on Sunday morning.
Bastianini also walking wounded
It wasn’t just Bagnaia’s fall that had Ducati bosses sweating; Enea Bastianini’s crash at turn five at the close of Q1 led to a trip to the medical center. Fortunately x-rays on his right hand showed no fractures, despite the championship leader feeling a good deal of pain.
Bastianini’s spill was worrying for the title leader.
“It was so strange because we have tried a lot of water on the track and then less and in the end the qualifying was dry but some parts were wet and was too critical to push,” he said. “On the last lap to enter Q2 I pushed on the limit and arrived to corner #5 and lose the rear without throttle. For me it was the cold temperature of the tyre. I made two laps slow and then push and [makes ‘flip’ sound].
“I have pain but nothing is broken, I put ice and I hope tomorrow will be better. It will be complicated and I need to understand my position in the warm-up and to try to recover some positions in the race. It is a good challenge for me tomorrow.”
Marc gets away with one
On the other side of the coin, Marc Marquez got away with a heavy crash in FP3. The Spaniard had a slow, but, massive high-side in wet conditions on Saturday morning, and suffered a glancing blow to his head. Yet any fears he suffered a recurrence of concussion were soon abated.
For once, Marquez had a belter of a crash and doesn’t seem too affected by it.
“When I decided to come in Austin,” he explained, “this was one of the questions to my doctor, ‘if I land again on my head, what’s going on?’ He said it doesn’t mean every time you land on your head, it’s an impact, but it doesn’t mean it [diplopia] will reappear. Here I landed and I hit my head but nothing happened. I have pain on my neck but a normal crash, because I hit and I have pain on my neck, but nothing more.
“First of all Dr (Angel) Charte came to me and he asked two or three questions in a row and for example in Indonesia he asked two or three questions and I didn’t answer. I mean he said, ‘where did you crash? Which gear? Which corner?’ and in Indonesia I didn’t answer. Today I answered straight away.”
Saturday
MotoGP
With great risk often comes great reward is an adage all 12 MotoGP™ riders in Q2 were following as they tackled a patchy Algarve International Circuit with slick tires. In a thrilling final 30 seconds that saw four riders provisionally sitting at the top of the pile, pole position, in the end, went the way of the final man to cross the line: experienced Frenchman Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing). The 31-year-old denied Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Joan Mir a debut MotoGP™ pole seconds after Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) had sneaked his way onto the front row.
It was no surprise that the early pacesetting was done by the Q1 graduates Alex Marquez (LCR Castrol Honda) and Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing), as the pair put their track knowledge to brilliant use. But as the other ten riders got up to speed, and the track dried out further, the pace began to heat up. Three minutes were left when Zarco hit the top for the first time, but he was displaced just 30 seconds later by factory Suzuki’s Mir.
Johann Zarco saved the best till last to take pole in Portugal.
With the clock now ticking down to just 90 seconds and the final flying laps being lined up, Ducati Lenovo Team’s Jack Miller joined the party. The conditions were perfect for the Australian as he eyed a first pole position since Argentina 2018 in a similar situation. Then another man who these conditions usually suit went red through the first sector.
Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez was flying and on course to take provisional pole at the most opportune moment before his teammate Pol Espargaro went down at the final corner bringing out the yellow flags. Marquez went fastest, with World Champion Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) going second, but both laps were swiftly canceled due to Espargaro’s off.
It meant Miller still held pole but he was usurped, with the checkered flag now out, by Mir as he cashed in on the yellow flags being rescinded at the final corner. The 2020 World Champion’s dreams of a career-first premier class pole were dashed within seconds with Zarco’s final flying lap of 1:42.003 good enough for a first pole since last year’s German Grand Prix. No sour grapes from Mir, though, due to second place being his best-ever result in a MotoGP qualifying session.
2022 Portuguese MotoGP Results—Saturday
| 1 |
Johann Zarco |
(Duc) |
1:42.003 |
| 2 |
Joan Mir |
(Suz) |
+ 0.195 |
| 3 |
Aleix Espargaro |
(Apr) |
+ 0.232 |
| 4 |
Jack Miller |
(Duc) |
+ 0.500 |
| 5 |
Fabio Quartararo |
(Yam) |
+ 0.713 |
| 6 |
Marco Bezzecchi |
(Duc) |
+ 0.713 |
| 7 |
Alex Marquez |
(Hon) |
+ 0.900 |
| 8 |
Luca Marini |
(Duc) |
+ 1.176 |
| 9 |
Marc Marquez |
(Hon) |
+ 1.572 |
| 10 |
Pol Espargaro |
(Hon) |
+ 1.829 |
Moto2
FlexBox HP40’s Aron Canet clinched his first Moto2™ pole in fine style as the intermediate class enjoyed a dry track for the first time at the Tissot Grand Prix of Portugal. The Spaniard’s 1:44.151 saw him take control of Q2 halfway through and, despite the best efforts of Cameron Beaubier (American Racing) and Jake Dixon (Autosolar GasGas Aspar Team) at the very end, he comfortably held on for a first pole since the 2019 Aragon Grand Prix.
Aron Canet took pole with Beaubier snapping at his heels.
2022 Portuguese Moto2 Results—Saturday
| 1 |
Aron Canet |
(Kal) |
1:44.151 |
| 2 |
Cameron Beaubier |
(Kal) |
+ 0.328 |
| 3 |
Jake Dixon |
(Kal) |
+ 0.350 |
| 4 |
Tony Arbolino |
(Kal) |
+ 0.409 |
| 5 |
Augusto Fernandez |
(Kal) |
+ 0.637 |
| 9 |
Joe Roberts |
(Kal) |
+ 0.764 |
| 29 |
Sean Dylan Kelly |
(Kal) |
+2.488 |
Moto3
Red Bull KTM Tech3’s Deniz Öncü sprinkled some Turkish delight across the Tissot Grand Prix of Portugal by timing his final flying lap perfectly to snatch a second career pole position. Having come through a wet Q1 earlier, the Turk made the most of improving track conditions to take top spot as the chequered flag came out and, in doing so, denied both Mario Aji (Honda Team Asia) and Lorenzo Fellon (SIC58 Squadra Corse) debut poles.
Deniz Oncu took a career-first pole in Moto3.
Öncü, Aji and Fellon took turns at leading Q2 throughout the course of the damp 15-minute session, swapping and changing lap after lap. But it was VisionTrack Racing’s Scott Ogden who sat at the top of the timesheets as the clock ticked to zero. However, in double heartbreak, the Brit’s lap was canceled for yellow flags and Öncü then went fastest with a 2:03.955.
2022 Portuguese Moto3 Results—Saturday
| 1 |
Deniz Öncü |
(KTM) |
2:03.955 |
| 2 |
Mario Aji |
(Hon) |
+ 0.017 |
| 3 |
Lorenzo Fellon |
(Hon) |
+ 0.475 |
| 4 |
Carlos Tatay |
(CFMoto) |
+ 0.546 |
| 5 |
Tatsuki Suzuki |
(Hon) |
+ 0.608 |
2022 Portuguese MotoGP News—Friday
Dovizioso comments on his immediate future
Coming to Portugal, speculation was rife regarding the immediate future of Italian veteran Andrea Dovizioso. Adapting to Yamaha’s M1 has been a slog. Results have been poor. And the 35-year-old has been explicit that he did not return from nearly a year out to fight for places outside the top 10. Reports pointed to imminent retirement.
Andrea Dovizioso’s return has been less than stellar. What’s in store for the veteran Italian?
Yet on Thursday Dovizioso said that his aim, among other things, was to help Yamaha better its 2022 package through the year. “We have to do two things: first is to continue to try to adapt to the bike. The second is to work with Yamaha to develop the bike, because they realize how important it is to do during the season.”
All riders are aware the M1’s lack of rear grip is the chief cause of an up and down start. “The biggest problem is the edge grip,” Dovizioso explained. “On exit you start with the bad slide, and you bring that to the traction area. So the difficult thing is you don’t have any range to manage before you arrive on the traction area. Fabio doesn’t use that area to be fast. He uses some other areas – entry, corner speed – where the Yamaha is very good to be fast.”
Video analysis making an impact
After Dovizioso said he would turn to video analysis to improve his riding technique in Austin, Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro confirmed Aprilia has found small gains in recent weeks by having a rider coach and video camera standing trackside.
Aleix Espargaro used video analysis to great effect in Austin.
“They can do magic with the videos now,” said the Catalan. “They can find the (correct) gearbox (setting), the line, the time per corner, everything.” An example he gave: “in America that was a difficult circuit for me, I spent a lot of time analysing a lot of small details, comparing telemetry with Maverick, many things. [Matteo] Baiocco – (Aprilia’s rider coach) arrived with many videos, because in Turn 4, just Pecco (Bagnaia) used the kerb completely inside, a lot.
“He showed this to me, we were on track and I started to see this, and Maverick and I, we started to do it from FP1. I improved one-tenth in the first sector just by doing this. So these small things can make the difference.”
Gravel too big
A puzzling sight occurred in FP2 when Pecco Bagnaia returned to the paddock after a crash in wet conditions at turn three. Before entering the box, he handed team manager Davide Tardozzi a handful of gravel from the outside of the track.
Bagnaia was less than impressed with the Portimao gravel.
It was, he said, because of concerns regarding the size and shape of the stones in the traps. “There are three tracks in the championship where it the gravel is like this: Jerez, Mandalika and here. We were complaining already last year when Martin crashed. Every crash at this track, when you arrive to the gravel you start to rumble a lot. This means you can get hurt by the gravel. So it’s not so safe.”
Teammate Jack Miller had similar concerns. “You saw a couple of guys today really get shit-whipped going through the gravel and it’s not ideal. And it destroys the bike for nothing,” he said.
Friday
MotoGP
Repsol Honda has set the benchmark on the opening day of the 2022 Portuguese MotoGP with Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro sitting first and second in the combined standings. Marquez left it late to top FP1 this morning and he was joined inside the top two by teammate Espargaro thanks to an excellent lap in FP2. Tricky conditions plagued the day and deteriorated into the afternoon meaning only three riders were able to improve on Friday afternoon.
Marc Marquez topped a difficult wet day at Portimao.
Espargaro was able to get within just 0.041 of a second of Marquez but the eight-time World Champion’s 1:50.666 in the final moments of FP1 was good enough to hold on to top spot through to the close of the day’s action. The pair also sat first and second in FP2 as well, asserting their early Portimao dominance even further.
2022 Portuguese MotoGP Results—Friday
| 1 |
Marc Marquez |
(Hon) |
1:50.666 |
| 2 |
Pol Espargaro |
(Hon) |
+ 0.041 |
| 3 |
Joan Mir |
(Suz) |
+ 0.0365 |
| 4 |
Marco Bezzecchi |
(Duc) |
+ 0.470 |
| 5 |
Johann Zarco |
(Duc) |
+ 0.504 |
| 6 |
Miguel Oliveira |
(KTM) |
+ 0.557 |
| 7 |
Maverick Viñales |
(Apr) |
+ 0.643 |
| 8 |
Jorge Martin |
(Duc) |
+ 0.677 |
| 9 |
Francesco Bagnaia |
(Duc) |
+ 0.721 |
| 10 |
Jack Miller |
(Duc) |
+ 0.771 |
Moto2
Liqui Moly Intact GP’s Marcel Schrötter is the man to beat in Moto2 after the experienced German found a late lap to jump to the top of the timesheets on the opening day of action at the 2022 Portuguese Moto2. He holds an advantage of over half a second ahead of Saturday’s FP3, with Britain’s Jake Dixon (Autosolar GasGas Aspar Team) and Cameron Beaubier (American Racing) his closest rivals. Joe Roberts made it P4 on the Italtrans Racing Kalex to put two Americans in the top five.
Marcel Schrotter topped Moto2 on Friday.
2022 Portuguese Moto2 Results—Friday
| 1 |
Marcel Schrotter |
(Kal) |
2:00.678 |
| 2 |
Jake Dixon |
(GasGas) |
+ 0.501 |
| 3 |
Cameron Beaubier |
(Kal) |
+ 0.713 |
| 4 |
Joe Roberts |
(Kal) |
+ 0.731 |
| 5 |
Sam Lowes |
(Kal) |
+ 0.735 |
| 26 |
Sean Dylan Kelly |
(Kal) |
+4.907 |
Moto3
Honda Team Asia’s Mario Aji has ended the opening day of the 2022 Portuguese Moto3 at the top of the timesheets as the Algarve weather continued to heavily affect Friday’s running.
Mario Aji slipped and slid his way to P1 in Moto3.
Aji posted a 2:02.491 in the final 10 minutes of FP2 to take top spot ahead of fellow rookie Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI) and Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Sqaudra Corse), who was one of 13 fallers in this morning’s FP1. CFMoto Pruestel GP’s Carlos Tatay, another one of those crashes from Friday morning, recovered well to close out the first day fourth on the timesheets and sit less than a tenth behind the pacesetter Aji.
2022 Portuguese Moto3 Results—Friday
| 1 |
Mario Aji |
(Hon) |
2:02.491 |
| 2 |
Diogo Moreira |
(KTM) |
+ 0.053 |
| 3 |
Riccardo Rossi |
(Hon) |
+ 0.075 |
| 4 |
Carlos Tatay |
(CFMoto) |
+ 0.167 |
| 5 |
Daniel Holgado |
(KTM) |
+ 0.167 |
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