MotoGP Race And Practice Results

A remarkable MotoGP season came to a bittersweet end in the Portimao, with the local fanbase unable to fully celebrate a fantastic win on home soil for Miguel Oliveira. The Portuguese rider was untouchable over 25 laps and gave one final gift to his Tech3 team, finishing over three seconds ahead of the battle for second. In a near replay from one week ago, Jack Miller and Franco Morbidelli fought it out to the last lap and it was the Australian who stood on the second place of the podium for Pramac one last time. Morbidelli settled for third in the race but claimed second in a rollercoaster of a world championship.

Oliveira kept in the limelight from start to finish, making a fine launch from pole to stay ahead of fellow front row starters Morbidelli and Miller. Cal Crutchlow followed them from the second row but Fabio Quartararo’s poor start dropped him to 8th, behind Pol Espargaro, Alex Rins and Stefan Bradl. Maverick Vinales and Johann Zarco completed the top 10 by the end of lap one, but only the Frenchman was able to stay there for much longer. Having to start 20th on the grid, world champion Joan Mir was a busy boy early on, climbing up to 12th on the first lap but a harsh overtake on Pecco Bagnaia saw him slide back down to 20th and prompted the Italian to retire. Brad Binder was the first rider to crash on lap 2 but the rookie of the year battle was pretty much sealed, with Alex Marquez having to start 16th and stuck in the midfield.

Oliveira thrived on his home playground and extended his lead to nearly 2 seconds by lap 4. Morbidelli and Miller struggled to keep up with him but built a one second gap to the pursuers led by Crutchlow and including a resurgent Bradl and Pol Espargaro. Zarco pushed hard to recover a one second gap on the trio ahead and had a big group in a not particularly orderly queue behind him. Oliveira continued to extend his gap to 3 seconds from Morbidelli and Miller by lap 8, while Pol Espargaro was on a roll and got past the Hondas of Crutchlow and Bradl. Zarco was keeping in touch with the group but Rins struggled to reduce the gap and the battle for second in the championship seemed to be going Morbidelli’s way already. Behind the Suzuki, Takaaki Nakagami, Quartararo, Alex Marquez and Andrea Dovizioso were having a bit of fun for 9th place.

The cameras barely showed the podium contenders for the next few laps, as the battle for fourth was getting pretty feisty between Pol Espargaro, Crutchlow, Bradl, Zarco, Rins, Nakagami and Dovizioso, with Marquez and Aleix Espargaro pushing to rejoin the group. The Yamaha trio of Quartararo, Vinales and Valentino Rossi completed the top 15, a handful of seconds ahead of Mir. The world champion entered pitlane to retire with 10 laps remaining and to make matters worse for Suzuki, Rins was dropping out of the top 10 too, shattering any dreams left of the Triple Crown.

With 10 laps left, Oliveira was a casual four seconds ahead of Morbidelli, with Miller seemingly waiting to pounce on the Italian. Six seconds down the road, Pol Espargaro was still fending off his rivals and it took him a few laps but eventually he managed to stretch a comfortable gap to the rest of the group, where Dovizioso was on a charge. The next group down the road was fighting for 10th place, as well as third in the championship, as Rins had dropped into the clutches of Vinales, Quartararo and Rossi.

Oliveira continued to look untouchable at the front all the way to the checkered flag but Morbidelli and Miller looked to re-enact the fine squabble of Valencia 2, this time for second position. Miller kept close but the Italian made no mistakes so the Australian’s first and only attack came at turn 13 on the final lap. It proved enough for Miller to keep second and secure Ducati the constructors’ world championship. Morbidelli had to admit defeat and settle for third but the podium was more than enough for the Italian to secure second in the riders’ world championship.

Pol Espargaro bows out of KTM with a fourth place and fifth in the championship, holding off Nakagami in the closing stages of the race. Dovizioso’s progress to sixth was rewarded with fourth in the championship in his final race for Ducati, while Bradl, Aleix Espargaro, Alex Marquez and Zarco completed the top ten. Valentino Rossi was 12th on his final race in factory Yamaha colours, before moving to a different shade of blue. Crutchlow faded to 13th position in the closing stages of his final race as a full time rider, after a battle with the men he is going to be testing for next year. Quartararo dropping all the way down to 14th sees him slip to 8th in the championship, while Rins only scored one point but it was enough to keep 3rd overall. Mir got to enjoy the end of the race from his garage, while presumably preparing his suit for the trophy ceremony later today.

Results:

The lightweight class celebrated the last day of school with a sensational action-packed race in Portimao and Albert Arenas was named pupil of the year and rewarded with iceream as he claimed the world title after a crazy last lap. However, the man of the day was Raul Fernandez, who rode a perfect race from pole to checkered flag and got to celebrate a special victory on track with his brother. Dennis Foggia put in another of the exceptional performances of the day, the Leopard rider serving two long lap penalties on his way to second on the podium, where he was joined by remarkable Rookie of the Year Jeremy Alcoba.

Poleman Fernandez managed to cling onto the lead at the start, after some challenge in turn 1 from Tatsuki Suzuki, with title rivals Ai Ogura and Albert Arenas close behind them and quickly finding a way past the rest of the front row starters, Ayumu Sasaki and Alcoba. Having started 27th on the grid, Tony Arbolino did not wait for the multiple penalties ahead of him to be served and was up to 17th by the end of lap 1. Ogura was keen to attack early, getting past Suzuki into turn 1 next time around but Arenas immediately followed him. The Spaniard then attacked once more at the same place on lap 3 and got ahead of Ogura as well. Jaume Masia was starting to get involved at the front and challenged both title contenders to climb as high as second, although the Spaniard quickly got a reminder of his double long lap penalty.

While riders fought for the honour of chasing him down, Fernandez had built a gap of over a second by lap four. Arenas picked up the pursuit but Alcoba, Ogura and Masia were still glued to his tail. Masia briefly left the party as he took his first penalty at the end of lap 4, together with teammate Foggia, dropping them to 10th and 11th place. While Masia and Foggia had to do it all over again, Sergio Garcia and Deniz Oncu wanted a say in the podium battle. Meanwhile, Arbolino had joined the top 10 by lap 6, aided by the Leopard boys taking their second long lap penalty.

Fernandez running away at the front was a fairly familiar sight, the Spaniard setting a fierce pace early on and increasing his gap to four seconds by lap 8. Alcoba and Arenas continued to fight to lead the pursuit, in a group also including Garcia, Sasaki, Oncu, Suzuki and Ogura, while Arbolino was in the lead of the next group three seconds down the road.

While Fernandez continued to extend his lead to 8 seconds by the halfway mark of the race, the chasers did not seem to have an answer to his pace, while the Leopard riders – despite their penalties – took over the lead of the next group and dragged Arbolino to within a second of the podium battle. The two groups merged with 10 laps remaining and soon enough Ogura found himself behind Arbolino in 10th position. Meanwhile, title rival Arenas had lost a bit of ground on Alcoba and was under attack for the final podium position from Suzuki and the Leopards. All three riders got past the Spaniard within 2 laps but with his championship rivals still behind him, it didn’t cause much concern yet. Some sparks did fly with 6 laps remaining, when Arenas saw the pink livery of Arbolino sweep past a couple of times and he fiercely defended, but Ogura, who was the main threat, had dropped out of the top 10, although still part of the chasing group.

Back at the front, Foggia and Masia had claimed provisional podium positions from Alcoba, although Fernandez’s 9-second gap looked a few steps too far. Masia quickly got past teammate Foggia but then threw all the fine work away by crashing from second position with 4 laps remaining, leaving Foggia and Alcoba to inherit second and third place. With Suzuki and Garcia filling the top 5 positions and having broken away from the rest of the group, all eyes for the final handful of laps were on the title battle, which had turned into a direct battle for sixth place. Arbolino, Arenas and Ogura got company from Binder, McPhee, Antonelli, Oncu and Vietti and it was Ogura who suffered most from the extra company, as the Japanese rider got demoted outside of the top 10 for the final 2 laps. That battle soon turned into the battle for fifth, as Suzuki crashed out of fourth place with 2 laps remaining.

The final lap started with Fernandez 7 seconds ahead of the rest and the Spaniard was untroubled until the checkered flag, with Foggia and Alcoba also putting in impressive performances to complete the podium. Garcia took the checkered flag half a second later but the big battle was six seconds behind him. Binder was leading the chasing group as the final lap started but Arbolino gave it one more big push to claim fifth and was rewarded with second in the championship for his excellent efforts. Ogura’s 8th place, behind Binder and Vietti, dropped him to third in the championship standings, although tied on points with Arbolino. The last lap shenanigans saw Arenas drop to 12th position and getting served with a track limits warning, but despite some frantic moves and unnecessary risks, the Spaniard did just enough secure the world championship in a truly action-packed season finale.

Results:

Results:

The final battle against the clock in Portimao was a close call for the intermediate class but Remy Gardner’s speed in the final sector was unrivalled as the Australian claimed pole position in the final couple of minutes of Q2. Luca Marini made his bid for pole as well but eventually had to surrender to Gardner by one tenth of a second, while Fabio Di Giannantonio joins them on the front row of the grid to end his season on a high.

Enea Bastianini was slow to warm up in Q2 and only joined the top ten in the final couple of minutes but he was fast when it counted and the championship leader missed out on the front row by only one thousandth of a second. Rival Sam Lowes gave it his all in one big push early on, before the pain kicked in, and held provisional pole early on but even after the final time attack, his time was still good enough for fifth, putting the two main title contenders next to each other on the grid. Jorge Martin joins the second row of the grid after sneaking out of Q1.

Nicolo Bulega, Augusto Fernandez and Marcos Ramirez make up row three, only three tenths of a second off pole, while Tetsuta Nagashima rounded out the top ten, with Hector Garzo and Q1 leader Marco Bezzecchi keeping him company on the fourth row. Fifth row is an all-Spanish affair with Xavi Vierge, Jorge Navarro and Aron Canet, the rookie’s result impacted by an early and pretty scary crash at turn 8 that required some quick reflexes from the rivals around him.

Results: