2023 Portimão MotoGP Race Result: Cruises And Clashes

By Zara Daniela | Sun, 26/03/2023 - 14:25

The headline act of the opening round in Portugal got underway with a victory already in the record books following Saturday’s sprint. And 25 laps later, Pecco Bagnaia added 25 more points to his title defence, celebrating a nearly perfect weekend on the top step of the podium. The reigning world champion didn’t need long to find his way into the lead of the race and, once there, was unbeatable to the chequered flag. Maverick Viñales tried his best to put up a fight but had to admit defeat and settle for second, with Marco Bezzecchi best of the rest and claiming the final podium place.

The start of proceedings briefly told a different story, with Jorge Martin getting the holeshot but immediately mugged by Miguel Oliveira into turn one. Bagnaia also demoted poleman Marc Marquez down to fourth and the Honda man looked like he was struggling to keep things under control, with some hairy moments on the opening lap escalating into a big incident on lap three. Just as Bagnaia deposed the home favourite of the lead, Marquez tagged the back of Martin braking into turn three and launched into an unlucky Oliveira, to the audible dismay of the crowds.

The incident played into the hands of Bagnaia initially, who extended a bit of a gap over the chasers now led by Viñales, Jack Miller and Bezzecchi, but his early advantage was short-lived as Viñales was keen to close the gap and soon joined him at the front. That left the rest of the challengers one second back by lap six and the gap was maintained as Bezzecchi took over the pursuit. Having started 12th on the grid, Alex made quick progress to fly the Marquez flag up to fourth, further demoting Miller and ahead of an equally impressive Brad Binder, who had started 14th. On the other hand, Fabio Quartararo’s struggles continued, the Frenchman dropping like a stone at the start, falling to the bottom of the top 15 on the opening lap. He was in good company from the likes of Martin, who dropped back after the early incident but the Spaniard went on to crash out of 11th position in the closing stages.

Tension continued to build up towards the halfway point of proceedings, Bagnaia resisting Viñales’s advances and eventually giving himself over a second of breathing room heading into the final 10 laps. The Spaniard tried to keep within reach, while managing an increasing threat from behind, where Bezzecchi was closing in and dropping the younger Marquez and the factory KTMs. If the podium battle was more of a waiting game, fourth place was hotly disputed, with Miller and Binder consistently trying and mostly failing to resist the Ducati of Marquez on the straight. Aleix Espargaro and Johann Zarco closed in on that particular fight in the last few laps and tried to mingle but with very different results.

Back at the front, Bagnaia, who was barely on screen in the closing stages, started the final lap with a reduced but still comfortable advantage over Viñales, which he carried safely to the chequered flag. Bezzecchi crossed the finish line two seconds later to secure a podium, while a feisty Zarco robbed Alex Marquez of fourth place on the final lap, and Binder won the battle with his teammate for sixth. Some late mistakes from Espargaro helped Quartararo climb into eighth place, ahead of the Aprilia man, with Alex Rins rounding out the top 10 as the top Honda.

Bagnaia’s perfect weekend gives him a 12-point advantage in the world championship over Viñales, with Bezzecchi third, 21 points down, only one point ahead of Zarco and Miller.

Results:

Pos No. Rider Bike Time/Diff
1 1 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati 41:25.4010
2 12 Maverick Viñales Aprilia 0.687
3 72 Marco Bezzecchi Ducati 2.726
4 5 Johann Zarco Ducati 8.060
5 73 Alex Marquez Ducati 8.125
6 33 Brad Binder KTM 8.247
7 43 Jack Miller KTM 8.381
8 20 Fabio Quartararo Yamaha 8.543
9 41 Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 9.294
10 42 Alex Rins Honda 11.591
11 36 Joan Mir Honda 16.992
12 30 Takaaki Nakagami Honda 17.448
13 37 Augusto Fernandez KTM 21.723
14 21 Franco Morbidelli Yamaha 27.050
Not Classified
  25 Raul Fernandez Aprilia 38:25.7140
  10 Luca Marini Ducati 34:55.5650
  89 Jorge Martin Ducati 31:35.7870
  49 Fabio Di Giannantonio Ducati 17:15.3210
  93 Marc Marquez Honda 03:22.4160
  88 Miguel Oliveira Aprilia 03:22.1930
2023
1
MotoGP
Portimao, Portugal
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Comments

I suppose MM is going to have to kill someone before he's called out.  He was out of control. Bike is inferior. Same as last year. Gotta be scarier than hell knowing he is near you.

 

Agree. And a double long lap penalty next race isn't enough because MM93 will likely have no compunction getting himself towed onto the first or second row to mix it up at the front and risk ruining other riders' races before serving his penalty (assuming he doesn't crash himself out first). After seeing what happened to Pol, Enea, and Miguel this weekend I'm not even sure I want to watch the rest of the season; it's just not fun. And by "not fun" I'm purposely stopping short of stating my real concern about this season 🥺

As it is 2023 I guess Marc has to receive a penalty. Makes sense, his riding, his mistake and a pretty nasty mistake.

As Bez said in the presser, all the riders are aggressive. There were many aggressive 'moves' made over the weekend which but for other riders standing their bikes up would also have ended races. Marc was being aggressive as were all the riders. Peco too. When aggression works it's ok, it's exciting, it's often not noticed, it's a 'great battle'. Add in a mistake and it's suddenly the problem. I'd say the mistake was the problem not the aggression. All of the riders have made them and will do so again. Hopefully the mistakes wont involve other riders but there's every chance they will just like Marini and Mir. 

As always, a different standard is used for Marc from afar. 

I don’t have a problem with agressiveness.

But I’m having a problem with this incident because MM93 had a clear opportunity to bail out of it in a safe way. He could have chosen to go left of JM98 and run wide.

Instead he chose to dive to the right.
I can’t imagine a multiple world champ couldn’t have known he wouldn’t make the corner. Especially because he had an almost identical moment the lap before on the exact same corner. That time he was lucky. You can’t tempt fate like that for a second time.

Sometimes you have to admit the shortcomings of the bike outweigh the talent or something along those lines… 

 

And I therefor believe a stronger message should have been given to MM93 by race direction (or the stewards, whoever hands out the penalties). This was just dangerous, selfish behaviour and a blatant disregard for the safety of the riders around him.

Don’t get me wrong, I love MM93, I loved what he did on saturday. But there are limits… 

Not so sure. Marc could have gone left if he had judged a disaster early enough. However, as was seen at T3 on many laps in all classes, what looks like a disaster will work out ok at T3 provided they can scrub enough speed. Lots of lines and lots of space if you can turn. I think Marc might have managed that but for the nature of the contact with Martin. After that contact, the disaster was only going one way and Marc had no options left. He could also have only managed to 'make it' like lap 1 and I think that would involve Oli and Marc out. Marc was definitely risking a lot. At T3 on the previous laps he had very similar events.

I think as the sport is at this time his penalty is fair.

I think it was a mistake that was made by several riders during the two races. Some of the overtakes at T3 looked wild. I suspect some did not begin intended. I think T3 and T5 are places which attract these incidents. That was Marc's mistake, not enough care flying into a bottleneck and others made the same mistake but with less dramatic results. 
 

A lot of what I have read online is different. Dangerous. Needs a real lesson because he's always been dangerous. One race ban...not enough make it a two race ban. I read somewhere that he had 'rammed' several riders in the first two laps. I heard a tree whisper that he threw drawing pins in the path of others etc etc.

I don't hate Marc, but I never root for him either. If you make a crazy pass--with no mistake--it's just a crazy pass. But he just makes too many "mistakes." Double lap penalty is fine.

But the list of riders he did, or should have, apologized to is getting kinda long, don't you think (the list includes himself)? Did he apologize to Martin, in addition to Oliviera?

If I have a bad thought about Marc during a race it's usually that I hope someone makes the same pass on him that he makes on others.

"If I have a bad thought about Marc during a race it's usually that I hope someone makes the same pass on him that he makes on others."

That's how we feel. When he barged through on the same corner in the first lap, he got a some comeuppance on the exit. An audible "Yes!" was heard as he lost positions and some footing. Writing that, it's interesting to turn the focus to myself and wonder why I wish for something potentially injurious when it comes to him? Probably because he has (and today, did) cause injury to others.

Now we go to Argentina, the site of another of his "bargey triumphs." I don't know if any penalty is enough. Brings to mind Casey: "Did your ambition outweigh your talent?" In MM93's case, I think his ambition outweighs his bike.

Why are the Ducatis so fast in a straight line? The only bike close is the Aprilia. Other bikes that have had the same advantage have been helped by a technical difference, the NSR Honda was single crank vee four v twin crank geared, the RC211 Honda was five cylinder v four, the Ducati GP07 was desmo v valve spring (as in WSBK currently). If desmo is intrinsically better than pneumatic valves it would have been used recently in other motor racing applications. Ducati have been leaders in integrated innovations such as ride height, aero (originally in drag minimisation more recently in wings, downforce etc) The others have had time to catch up yet Ducati still rules on corner exit and straight line.

Ducati makes their V4 as powerful as possible, then tames it with the spec Magnetti Marelli electronics. Everyone on the grid has the 'same electronics', but Ducati is the only manufacturer who lives just down the road from Magneti Marelli... and there's your difference.

Ducati is the only one to use desmo valves, the rest pneumatic.  For many years the desmo was just marketing twaddle - a solution in search of a problem - but in MotoGP they do seem to have found an actual benefit for it.  Versus springs it allows not only higher rev ceilings but also higher valve acceleration, so the valve is open further, sooner, in every revolution.

Whether it is superior to pneumatic valves few people know, but it's the main technical difference between them and the rest so might be part of the difference.  The potential for improvement is not only with higher peak power but also power delivery.  We saw the Ducatis reaching a higher speed much sooner than the others (ie powering past them before the start/finish line).  That can be peak power, but also midrange power and of course the way it hooks up and drives.

The latter is a magic blend of chassis engineering and mastery of the electronic systems.  It's notable that the Marelli HQ is 5km from Ducatis...

Pecco looks to be super strong against the current field.

Nice to see top gun riding well. His performance in the sprint race was good, perhaps this format will help him with practice/confidence early in races. I can see him on the top step again, hopefully he has turned a real corner.

Loved that Zarco ride at the end.

Seems to me that jack on the KTM is basically a lateral move at this stage. Very surprising. 

Thinking of 93...a thought went through my head today that if he was aboard any Ducati or Aprilia, perhaps even a KTM, we'd be asking who could bring the fight to him as I doubt anyone could. As it is, you have to wonder who becomes collateral damage next. Hope Honda delivers the goods... Quick.

Not the biggest fan of Marc's bumper car riding style, but in this case really think the punishment fit the "crime". Again to the point WaveyD1974 made, if it was someone else this would have been the same punishment. Did not see anyone calling for a race ban for Mir.  Marc did look a bit wild over the couple of laps, clearly having to override the bike just to stay with the rest. Really sorry for Olivera. He is a class act both on and off track.

The KTMs were an awesome surprise. Binder especially. Cannot wait for him to get to full fitness. Hope the bike improves fast otherwise between Aprillia and Ducati this would become the Italian Manufacturers Championship.

Waiting for David to opine on what ails Yamaha. They keep flattering to deceive.

 

Has Marc been given a penalty? I think calls for a race ban are excessive and that a double long lap is a fair cop. Then increasingly harder penalties if the pattern of behaviour continues. Pleased to see Maverick trying hard and achieving a good result…he seemed happy in park ferme. Ducati grunt is awesome and Pecco is at one with the machine. Fabio for Ducati or Aprilia next year? The racing in all classes is brilliant…best show on Earth.

Wow, given the latest news that Marc won't be racing at Argentina that means he takes the penalty to Texas. Could even the #93 manage to take a double long lap to the podium in his beloved CoTA? 

I also had thought about Marc or Fabio going to a Ducati (or Aprilia?) next year - but the question might be: will those manufacturers need them?