- 2021-04-19
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Donate to support families affected by the crisis in Ukraine ➔ MotoGP Portugal: Fabio Quartararo Takes Back-To-Back Wins, Marc Marquez Seventh
MotoGP Portugal watched Fabio Quartararo (Monster Yamaha) took back-to-back wins following Doha Grand Prix.
Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Team) recoveried from 11th to 2nd, took his second podium of 2021. Joan Mir (Suzuki Ecstar) finished 3rd behind Francesco Bagnaia by 0.139 second.
Even though Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) ran 2nd until lap 19, crashed out at Turn 5. On the same, Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) was 3rd, but crashed out at Turn 10 on lap 20.
Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha) pushed Joan Mir, but finished 4th ahead of Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) from 15th on the grid.
Last year's Portugal race winner Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM) was 16th after a crash.
Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha) and Jack Miller (Ducati Team) crashed out, each. Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda) pulled out at the end of lap five due to a technical issue.
While, Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) was seventh in his comeback race.
Fabio Quartararo said, “Yes it was a tough start. My start was good, but unfortunately the others made a better one. But I'm so happy because I didn't expect to make that pace because we did more 1m 39s than 1m 40s, and actually the pace was so strong. Here (Portimao) we felt a lot with our bike the fuel going down, and in the middle of the race, that pace was amazing. I knew that we had a little bit extra pace compared to Alex [Rins]. He was running so fast but he made a mistake. But honestly, the pace that we set today was unexpected from myself, but it feels great to enjoy this track, this unique track.”
He continued, “Yamaha made a big step compared to last year. But for me mentaly I feel stronger. Last year after Aragon we more or less lost the opportunity to fight until the end with Joan [Mir] for the championship. I was even more frustrated that we lost that moment. But I've learned a lot. When the bike was not going so great I was always thinking negatively, but I totally changed this, and now I'm always thinking positively which I think is great.”
He added, “For me I expected that. He finished a little bit more than ten seconds from the lead, but he never made 25 laps in a row and this track for me is the most physical track on the calendar. So now he knows the feeling of doing a full race on a tough track, and now he will come back to tracks he knows well like Jerez. For me it is the result I expected, and yesterday in qualifying he was impressive, so he's back.”
Grande Prémio 888 de Portugal Race Results- Fabio Quartararo / Monster Yamaha / 41m 46.412s
- Francesco Bagnaia / Ducati Team / +4.809s
- Joan Mir / Suzuki Ecstar / +4.948s
- Franco Morbidelli / Petronas Yamaha / +5.127s
- Brad Binder / Red Bull KTM / +6.668s
- Aleix Espargaro / Aprilia Gresini / +8.885s
- Marc Marquez / Repsol Honda / +13.208s
- Alex Marquez / LCR Honda / +17.992s
- Enea Bastianini / Avintia Ducati / +22.369s
- Takaaki Nakagami / LCR Honda / +23.676s
- Maverick Viñales / Monster Yamaha / +23.761s
- Luca Marini ITA / VR46 Avintia Ducati / +29.660s
- Danilo Petrucci / KTM Tech3 / +29.836s
- Lorenzo Savadori / Aprilia Gresini / +38.941s
- Iker Lecuona / KTM Tech3 / +50.642s
- Miguel Oliveira / Red Bull KTM / +1 lap
- source : MotoGP
