The 2024 Portuguese GP has been a real roller coaster for many of the MotoGP riders. And we do not say this only because of the continuous changes in the level of the track but because of the emotions experienced by them and especially for the dominator of Qatar, Pecco Bagnaia, Maverick Viñales and Marc Márquez, who combined great moments with more bitter ones.
In the case of Bagnaia, everything seemed to be heading towards a great weekend. However the Ducati rider made a mistake when he was leading the Sprint Race on Saturday and on Sunday he had problems with his tires until he crashed after colliding with Marc Márquez. Marc himself, without a doubt the most competitive with the GP23, achieved the podium in the Sprint Race while on Sunday he was having a harder time being at the front when he had contact with Bagnaia.
FALL OF PECCO BAGNAIA AND MARC MÁRQUEZ!
They were fighting for fifth place and crashed with only three laps left 😰#PortugueseGP 🇵🇹 #MotoGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/U2XM2Ao4Dw
— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) March 24, 2024
The action of the weekend, which ended with both of them on the ground, meant that the two drivers had to go through Race Direction, which ended up concluding that it was a race incident. Even so, both have lost a large number of points as Maverick Viñales also lost them due to a failure with the gearbox that caused the Aprilia rider to end up on the ground at the beginning of the last lap after having a brilliant and stratospheric race on Sunday. on Saturday where he achieved victory.
NOOO! Fall of Maverick Viñales IN THE LAST ROUND!
The bike behaved in a very strange way and crashed when riding third 😰#PortugueseGP 🇵🇹 #MotoGP 🏁 pic.twitter.com/DIcLq7nsI4
— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) March 24, 2024
Martín has taken a step forward in the Portuguese GP
Jorge Martín has also been stratospheric throughout the Portuguese GP and the start of the season. Last year he suffered from a lack of regularity, but in the two GPs that we have competed in, he is the only one that has not been off the podium in any of the four races and also by achieving victory in the Portuguese GP he is the leader with an advantage of 18 points on Binder, 21 on Bastianini and 23 on Bagnaia.
There is a lot of season ahead and anything is possible, but there is no doubt that the start of the campaign is at the level of those who intend to fight for the title. On Sunday's podium he was accompanied by poleman Enea Bastianini, who discreetly and efficiently is scoring points, and Pedro Acosta, who in his second GP already knows what it means to get on the podium.
MARTINATOR!
🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇🥇
Jorge Martín's sixth victory in #MotoGP to be LEADER of the World Cup 💪#PortugueseGP 🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/ORJZwsNv9O
— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) March 24, 2024
It is true that it sometimes feels like Pedro is going over the limit, but so far he has finished all the races, he is learning in each session and he is being as competitive or more so than Binder, Miller and Fernández, with more experience on the bike. that he. Precisely Binder and Miller were fourth and fifth respectively, although with no chance of battling Acosta at any time.
Marco Bezzecchi, 19 seconds behind Martín, was the first Ducati GP23, which reflects the great leap in speed that the 2024 bikes have compared to those of 2023. Fabio Quartararo, favored by the falls, finished seventh, although it must be recognized That during the weekend and the start of the race it seemed that both his Yamaha and Rins's remained one step ahead of the Hondas.
Aleix Espargaró did not have his weekend finishing eighth just ahead of Oliveira and with Fabio Di Giannantonio closing a top 10 without the presence of Honda. And Joan Mir, twelfth, was the best motorcycle on the golden wing in the Portuguese GP.
Now, after this intense weekend and with the cancellation of the Argentine GP, we have to wait three weeks for the MotoGP to roar again at the GP of the Americas, which will be held in Austin (Texas) from April 12 to 14.
