If the Sprint Race of the 2024 MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix was entertaining, the main race on Sunday turned out to be an absolute thriller. The race had a lot of twists and turns in the closing stages, with some unpredictable incidents while Jorge Martin clinched victory on his Prima Pramac Ducati.
A dominant start
Jorge Martin made his intentions clear of winning the race the moment it began. The Spaniard managed to get past pole sitter Enea Bastianini going into Turn One and from then on there was no looking back for him. Martin looked completely in sync with his Ducati as he set the pace at the front.
The Sprint race winner Maverick Vinales on his factory Aprilia was close on Martin’s heels and he looked pretty strong for the majority of the race. However, he couldn’t do much about Martin’s stellar form and in the end, the Prima Pramac rider clinched an important victory as his title rivals were involved in incidents.
Bagnaia and Marquez collide
The weekend couldn’t have gotten any worse for the defending Champion Pecco Bagnaia. The Factory Ducati rider had a miserable Sprint Race where he made a mistake and threw away the win but adding more salt to his wounds was crashing out of the main race.
Since the beginning of the race, Bagnaia and Gresini Racing’s Marc Marquez were engaged in battle, passing each other on a few occasions. The real drama, however, ensued in the closing stages with a few laps to go. Marquez made a move again to overtake Pecco but in the very next corner, Pecco dived towards the inside of Marquez to try and take the position back. Unfortunately, the two riders collided and went sliding towards the gravel trap. These were precious points that were lost for both the World Champions.
Amazing Acosta!
The world has been raving about the MotoGP rookie sensation Pedro Acosta astride his GasGas Tech3 racing bike and the 19-year old delivered on all counts in this race. The youngster made some incredible overtakes to move up the order, some notable ones being passing Marquez and Bagnaia with inches to spare between them. Unlike the QatarGP, Acosta was mindful of tyre wear and was closing in on the podium positions.
Meanwhile Aprilia Racing’s Maverick Vinales was unable to shift to sixth due to a gearbox issue in the final laps. This allowed Enea Bastianini to move up to second shortly after which Vinales ended up crashing out of the Portuguese GP in Turn One. This gifted the third position to the hard charging Acosta.
Championship standings
Jorge Martin leads the 2024 MotoGP World Championship with 60 points in the bag. KTM Factory Racing’s Brad Binder is second with 42 points followed by Ducati Lenovo Factory Team’s Enea Bastianini in third with 39 points. The next round will be held at the Circuit of the Americas in the USA from 12-14 April.
