Dopo la gara sprint della vigilia, il campione del mondo in carica domina anche il GP vero e proprio
Francesco Bagnaia uncontainable in Portimao. The Ducati champion takes victory in the first round of the World Championship, started with the accident caused by Marc Marquez which compromised Jorge Martin’s race e hit the innocent Miguel Oliveira, which had sprung perfectly from the second row at the traffic light. On the podium with Bagnaia (who had won the first Sprint Race in history on the eve) they go up Maverick Vinales and Marco Bezzecchi. The Spaniard from Aprilia tried to threaten Bagnaia’s leadership in the first part of the GP, only to then surrender to the superiority of the Italian. Bezzecchi instead emerged from the tussle for the third step of the podium with Johan Zarco (Ducati Pramac), Alex Marquez (Ducati Gresini), with the KTM of Binder and Miller and with the Yamaha of Fabio Quartararo, crossing the finish line in this order from fourth to eighth position.
First rounds of furious tussle, then a GP with a much more linear and even crystallized development, at least as regards the hunt for victory. At the start he was the idol of the house
Miguel Oliveira to light the fuse from the second row but the exploit of the Portuguese rider astride the Aprilia RNF was
literally crushed by the enthusiasm of Marc Marquez. The author of the pole actually came into contact with Martin’s Ducati which acted as his side, sending him hitting Oliveira’s right leg, who was immediately taken to the circuit’s medical centre, where the first x-ray ruled out fractures. Physical consequences also for
the Cannibal, who was diagnosed after the race
the
possible fracture of the first metacarpal of the right handwith the need to undergo further tests in the next few hours upon his return to Spain.
From then on, two races in one: the confrontation (short-lived actually)
between Bagnaia and Vinales for first place and the one involving a good number of riders for the third step of the podium. Riding the only Lenovo Ducati in the race after Enea Bastianini’s accident in the Sprint race, Bagnaia soon made his law count
overcoming the resistance of Vinales which probably also paid for the different choice of tires over the distance: double medium for Pecco, hard and medium for the Spaniard. In any case, Maverick shone much more than his teammates ALexi EspargarĆ², whom he had also beaten in qualifying. Aleix progressed, but his climb stopped in ninth place in the ranking ahead of Alex Rins and behind Fabio Quartararo who has to settle for an opaque eighth place.
The hunt for the third step of the podium has
in the end, Marco Bezzecchi prevailed which repeats last summer’s exploit in Assen and allows VR46 to win the challenge of the Ducati “satellites” ahead of Zarco (Pramac) and Alex Marquez (Gresini).
For Bezzecchi a race without ever holding back: first to detach the direct rivals mentioned above, then to hint at an attempt to hook up with Vinales, which later proved to be unfeasible. Bravo Marco for being satisfied (so to speak!), avoiding overdoing it.
They are missing from the appeal – among the ducatists –
both Martin and Marini. Involved in the accident with Marc Marquez, the Spaniard remounted from the back but slipped while he was approaching the positions that count. The Italian also crashed in the final stages, unfortunately making for him the encore of the empty passage of the Sprint.