Jorge Martin conducted a comfortable race where he led every single lap of the Portuguese Grand Prix, whilst reigning Champion Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez had a dramatic crash.
Martin got the perfect getaway to lead into Turn 1 where he established a small lead with Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales behind.
In Turn 4 on the opening lap, slight contact was made between factory Ducati team-mates as pole-sitter Enea Bastianini had the edge over Bagnaia.
Rookie sensation Pedro Acosta and KTM ace Brad Binder switched up positions in a battle for seventh in the opening laps, before both passed fellow KTM rider Jack Miller a few laps later as the Australian went out wide in the opening Turn.
Acosta made the plunge to pick off Binder and started catching Gresini’s M. Marquez ahead in fifth and duly passed the eight-time champion on the following lap in a similar fashion as he did in Qatar.
Acosta went in slightly too hot when attempting a lunge on Bagnaia into Turn 1 and was forced to sit behind for several laps.
With five tours to go, he was able to get the job done as Bagnaia’s troubles with tyre wear set him back from getting near his team-mate for a podium finish.
With three laps remaining M. Marquez tried a lunge on Bagnaia into Turn 5 and went wide, Bagnaia came up back on the inside but clattered right into the Spaniard which put both of them out of contention for a strong points finish.
On the final lap of the race there was heartbreak for Sprint winner Vinales as his bike appeared to have locked up heading into the opening turn and dumped him off, in a strange circumstance that wasn’t rider error, but in fact a gearbox issue.
This resulted in Bastianini taking home second and Acosta making his first podium in only his second MotoGP race, becoming the youngest rider in the MotoGP era to do so.
Aleix Espargaro fell down to 17th after starting 13th, before working his way up the pecking order and finishing in a more than respectable eighth.
These three late DNFs provided a KTM 3-4-5 to help further their Constructors’ Championship push and provided strong points for Yamaha and Honda after a difficult Qatar race.
Fabio Quatararo picked up an impressive seventh and Joan Mir sealed 12th, results which will go a long way for the rest of the year.
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