par Fabio Quartararo remporte le GP du Portugal, disputé à Portimao. La course a été marquée par plusieurs chutes, dont celle d’Alex Rins, alors deuxième, puis imité par Johann Zarco un tour plus tard. La voie était libre pour Quartararo qui gérait sereinement sa fin de course. Francesco Bagnaia s’est emparé de la deuxième place, suivi par Joan Mir. Une semaine après sa victoire au Qatar, Fabio Quartararo, sur Yamaha, signe un deuxième succès consécutif. C’est la cinquième victoire en Moto GP pour le pilote français. Il en profite pour s’emparer de la tête du championnat des pilotes.
La course a également été marquée par le retour de Marc Marquez après neuf mois d’absence. L’Espagnol ne s’est pas mêlé à la course à la victoire mais termine à une encourageante 7e place. L’ancien champion du monde a terminé en pleurs.
‘El Diablo’, triomphe en solitaire, il s’empare des commandes au Championnat après les déboires de Johann Zarco et de Maverick Viñales.
Le Niçois a bien fêté son anniversaire, déjà vainqueur à Losail, il s’est de nouveau illustré ce dimanche, collant près de cinq secondes sur la ligne d’arrivée à son plus proche adversaire, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team). Le représentant du team Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP aura su gérer sa course, déjouant les pièges tendus par cette piste de Portimão… à la différence de certains de ses adversaires.
Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing), leader du Championnat avant ce GP, avait pourtant signé le meilleur envol, pour se porter en tête au premier virage devant Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar). Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team), un temps troisième, se faisait quant à lui aussitôt surprendre par Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda Team) et les deux GSX-RR. On passait d’ailleurs tout près de la catastrophe, lorsque l’octuple Champion du Monde venait toucher la roue arrière du Majorquin. Fort heureusement, tous deux parvenaient à rester sur leurs moto. Toujours est-il que Fabio Quartararo en profitait pour s’infiltrer en quatrième position et Joan Mir n’allait pas lui résister très longtemps…
Alors que Jack Miller et Marc Márquez finissaient par lâcher du lest, devant on assistait à un changement de leader, avec cette attaque portée par Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) sur Johann Zarco au cinquième tour. Fabio Quartararo et Joan Mir suivaient. Pendant que Jack Miller chutait dans la courbe 3.
Ensuite, Fabio Quartararo prenait l’ascendant sur Alex Rins et ces derniers réussissaient à distancer le reste du peloton constitué par Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) et Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team).
Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha SRT), alors 12e, se faisait piéger. Et d’autres victimes de chutes, parmi lesquelles : Alex Rins… et Johann Zarco, qui venait justement de se faire doubler par un Francesco Bagnaia revenu en force.
Le champ libre était libre pour Fabio Quartararo, il n’avait ainsi plus qu’à filer vers la victoire, sa quatrième en MotoGP. Le suspense était à son comble pour ce qui est de la deuxième place, car Joan Mir et Franco Morbidelli restaient aux trousses de Francesco Bagnaia jusqu’au bout.
‘El Diablo’ était accompagné sur le podium par Francesco Bagnaia et Joan Mir. C’est la première fois que Yamaha remporte les trois premières épreuves de l’année depuis 2010. Franco Morbidelli doit se contenter du quatrième rang, devant Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) et Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini).
Marc Márquez, qui n’avait plus couru depuis neuf mois, termine septième ; ce qui donnait six marques différentes parmi les sept premiers. Son frère Alex (LCR Honda Castrol), le rookie Enea Bastianini (Avintia Esponsorama) et Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) complétaient le Top 10.
Au Championnat, Fabio Quartararo prend les commandes, 15 points devant Francesco Bagnaia et 20 devant Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), seulement 11e du GP. Johann Zarco perd le leadership et se retrouve quatrième à 21 longueurs. Le prochain Grand Prix aura lieu dans deux semaines à Jerez.
English Information
Portimao perfection: Quartararo wins dramatic duel in style
As weekends go, they don’t get much better than that for Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP). The Frenchman converted pole position to victory at the Grande Prémio 888 de Portugal as the MotoGP™ race sees some big names crash out, but that wasn’t the case for second place Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) and third place Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar). The returning Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) battles through the pain to finish P7 in Portimao.
The initial getaway from polesitter Quartararo was about as good as it gets, but in the second phase of the start, third place Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) and second place Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) got the better of the Yamaha man and it was the Suzuki of Rins who grabbed the holeshot, but Zarco was the early race leader. Marc Marquez made a wonderful start and was battling Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) for P3. Mir made a typically great start and was up into the top five, and it was Mir vs Marquez again on the opening lap. The reigning World Champion shoved his GSX-RR up the inside of the Repsol Honda at Turn 11 for P3.
So it was Zarco leading the opening lap and at Turn 3, Marc Marquez and Mir came close again – too close. Marquez tagged the back of Mir, luckily stayed on, but it allowed sixth place Quartararo to squirm through to fourth past Marquez and Miller, the latter and then Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) passed Marquez as the eight-time Champion slipped to P7. Up front, Rins showed a wheel to Zarco at Turn 13 but there was no way through… for now.
Lap 3 saw Quartararo make a clean move up the inside of Mir at Turn 1 for P3, the Frenchman making swift progress after getting a bit beaten up at the start, with a Turn 13 move on Zarco sticking at the third time of asking a lap later. So on Lap 5, Rins was now your race leader, but Zarco blasted back through on the straight. Then, suddenly, the sound of a bike hitting the deck was heard and as the cameras panned out, we saw Miller down at Turn 3 at the beginning of Lap 6. The Australian’s Portuguese GP was over after just over four laps, a disaster for the factory Ducati man. On the same lap, Miguel Oliveira’s (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) hopes of another dream home round rostrum were over. The Portuguese star was down at Turn 14, he remounted but it was game over for Oliveira.
Hear the immediate reaction to the dramatic Portuguese Grand Prix from Fabio Quartararo, Francesco Bagnaia and Joan Mir
Quartararo had followed Rins through on Zarco and the Yamaha man now had his radar firmly set on P1. Just like he did on the other Suzuki, Quartararo dived up the inside down the hill into Turn 1 and El Diablo was now at the spearhead of the race. This was now where Quartararo and Rins started to display some Portimao superiority. A handful of laps later, third place Mir was one and a half seconds down on the leading duo, with Lap 14 seeing Quartararo set a 1:39.680 – the fastest lap. However, Rins was matching the Yamaha every step of the way. The duo exchanged fastest laps on numerous occasions, but some colossal drama was about to unfold for two riders.
First, we saw Rins crash at Turn 5 on Lap 19 of 25. The downhill, tricky left-hander caught out the Spaniard who was right behind Quartararo, and it was race over for the number 42 in Portimao. This gave Quartararo a 4.2 second lead over Zarco, with Bagnaia grabbing P3 off Mir at Turn 5. Then, a lap later at Turn 11, the World Championship leader was down. Zarco’s front washed away the top of the hill and the Frenchman slid out of contention, just after Bagnaia had picked him off at Turn 5.
Barring a disaster, victory was Quartararo’s. The podium battle, however, was still well on. Bagnaia was holding P2 and looking good, with Mir having Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) in his mirrors heading into the final exchanges. With two to go, the trio were locked together but Pecco wasn’t buckling, as fifth place Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) was less than a second away from Morbidelli’s rear wheel. Mir was pressuring Bagnaia but the Italian was holding firm, and on the last lap, the Suzuki rider wasn’t quite close enough to make a move.
Five seconds down the road, Quartararo cruised over the line to pick up his second win of 2021. A commanding victory for factory Yamaha’s new recruit, and one that sees him take a 15-point lead into Jerez – a circuit he was quite successful at last season. Bagnaia’s recovery from P11 to P2 was awesome, a fantastic Sunday in Portimao for the Italian who rises to P2 in the standings with his first podium of the year. Mir eventually beats Morbidelli by 0.179s to earn his first podium of 2021, an important result from the World Champion and another rostrum after starting from outside the top two rows.
It’s a return to form for fourth place Morbidelli, the Italian in the podium hunt throughout to hopefully banish the Losail woes. Binder’s P5 proves once again the South African is a Sunday rider through and through, that’s a morale-boosting result for KTM and Binder ahead of Jerez. Aleix Espargaro earns Aprilia an equal-best MotoGP™ result in P6, yet another great ride from the Spaniard, who beats the seventh fastest rider by 4.3 seconds.
That man is Marc Marquez. The eight-time World Champion completed his first race since the 2019 Valencia GP finale, and the emotions were shown by the Spaniard when he arrived back in his box. A truly commendable performance from Marc Marquez upon his return to MotoGP™, the world salutes his magnificent ride in Portimao.
Both the Championship leader and the Suzuki man threw away rostrum finishes with mistakes late in the Portuguese GP
Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) bags his first top 10 in P8, with reigning Moto2™ World Champion Enea Bastianini (Avintia Esponsorama) picking up his second top 10 MotoGP™ result in P9. Yet another brilliant ride from ‘The Beast’, and what an absolutely superb effort from 10th place Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu). The battered and bruised Japanese rider has been in considerable pain all weekend since his huge Friday Turn 1 crash, but a P10 sums up just how tough – physically and mentally – MotoGP™ riders are.
Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) didn’t recover from a horror start, and in the end benefited from a few crashes to pick up P11. A disappointing day for Viñales in Portimao, he was 23 seconds shy of teammate Quartararo. Luca Marini (SKY VR46 Avintia) slipped to P12 from a P8 start but it was nevertheless a very promising weekend for the Italian, a job well done. Injured Danilo Petrucci (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing), Lorenzo Savadori (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) and Iker Lecuona (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing) completed the points, Oliveira was the final finisher in P16 after his crash.
Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha SRT) crashed at Turn 11, rider ok, with Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) pulling into pitlane in the early stages with a technical issue.
Quartararo marches on in the 2021 title race, two wins from three is the Frenchman’s tally heading to Jerez, and it’s a soon to be 22-year-old brimming with confidence as rivals fall by the wayside in Portugal. A weekend off is followed by the Spanish GP at the end of April/start of May, and already the title race is twisting and turning. After all, this is MotoGP™.
