The original Moto2 race was started in the dry, but it began raining, causing several of the leaders, including American Cameron Beaubier, to crash. Several of those crashers, including Beaubier, were not able to make the restart, which was run in mixed wet/dry conditions. Results from both parts of the race are listed below. The results for Race Part Two are the official race results.

More, from a press release issued by Italtrans Racing:

Italtrans Racing Team back to the victory with Joe Roberts at Portuguese GP

After 22 years an American rider is back to the first step of Moto2 podium (John Kocinski, Australia 1990; 11 years in MotoGP with the victory of Ben Spies, Assen 2011) in a masterpiece signed by Italtrans Racing Team together with Joe Roberts.

The victory of the cowboy from Los Angeles at Portuguese GP, fifth round of a season full of emotions, was so exciting.

Portimao is a magical track for Italtrans Racing Team, because right here, on 22nd November 2020, the team celebrated the Moto2 World Championship title with Enea Bastianini.

Taking off the third row of the grid, Joe maintained a steady pace in eighth position. On lap 8 the race was heavily affected by the appearance of rain and a multiple-rider crash at Turn 2, that forced a red flag. Second on grid 2, at the start the American rider immediately took the lead of the race, maintaining the first position for all seven laps until the chequered flag. With a perfect race 2, Joe won the Grand Prix of Portugal and taking the “The Star-Spangled Banner” to the top of the podium.
Joe is now fourth in the standings with 49 points.

Misfortune for Lorenzo Dalla Porta. 23rd at the end of the first race, unfortunately on the starting grid of race 2 his Kalex did not start despite numerous attempts by the team.

The next round is on May 1st at Jerez de la Frontera.

DNF Lorenzo Dalla Porta

“Today was a good opportunity to score some points. Even though I had problems with the clutch in the first part of the race, I was convinced I could be competitive in the second one. I’m so disappointed”.

1st Joe Roberts

“It’s a long road to victory. Winning means so much. It’s been a long time since an American rider has been on the first step of the podium. I still can’t believe it! In the race I knew I had a good gap, but I almost didn’t believe it, I didn’t know what to do: I simply tried not to make mistakes. It’s a great day for the whole team! I thank all those who supported me during this period and I hope this is just the first success of a long series”.

Franco Brugnara – Lorenzo Dalla Porta’s Crew Chief

“Unfortunately, Lorenzo’s bike had a technical problem with the clutch. It was a shame because it was an important race for us to get experience and points. Hopefully we can make up for it at Jerez. I’m happy for Joe: it’s a victory for the whole team”.

Giovanni Sandi – Joe Roberts’ Crew Chief

“I knew we would be competitive. We made a good qualifying and in race he did his best. We did a lot of work and it paid off. It’s a fantastic victory! Congratulations to the whole team!”

More, from a press release issued by American Racing Team:

A day of two halves: first points for Sean, Cam robbed of first podium

It was story of two-halves for the American Racing Team at Portimão as Cameron Beaubier was involved in a multi-rider crash through no fault of his own as he fought for the win, whilst teammate Sean Dylan Kelly claims his first Moto2 World Championship points.

After an incredible qualifying result, Cam lined up in second on the grid, putting him in prime position to fight for the podium. As the lights went out, the Californian got the holeshot, sending him into the lead before Aron Canet fought back to regain the place. The duo battled it out for the lead in the opening laps as rain began to fall across the Portuguese circuit with Honda Team Asia rider Ai Ogura coming to join the party.

A huge crash caused by the sudden increase in rainfall on lap nine involving Cam and multiple other riders brought out a red flag. Thankfully all riders were conscious and largely unharmed. Unfortunately, due to the damage sustained in the crash, Cam was unable to join the restart.

Sean was able to avoid the chaos and therefore able to take part in the restart where the Florida-native was a second faster off the line than the previous start. The shortened race distance proved costly for some in Sean’s group with a fall for Niccolò Antonelli but Sean was able to avoid any mistakes, taking his first Moto2 points as he ended the race in 13th.

Cam Beaubier #6 – DNF

“That was my best chance yet at a win. It’s a huge bummer. I was feeling so good on the bike, I had points where I felt stronger than [Aron] Canet and some where he was stronger than me, but I felt really good where I was. I definitely felt some sprinkles here and there, mainly the first couple of sectors, it was drizzling. I saw Canet’s rear end step out big time right in front of me then next thing I knew, I was flying through the air. Obviously, it’s a huge bummer but you’ve just got to focus on the fact everyone, for the most part, is alright, because that was some pretty scary stuff to see bikes flying past you in the gravel trap. Luckily, we’re OK and now we move onto Jerez and take the positives from this weekend because we were fast throughout. I’m going to keep working with the team and the way we’re going because I feel fast, I feel good. I had a decent result here last year, so I knew it was going to be a solid weekend for us but we’re going to some other tracks now so let’s try and keep it going.”

Sean Dylan Kelly #4 – 13th

“Obviously, we have to be happy [with the first points] but honestly, I’m just happy no one got hurt in that crash because there were so many people down and, when I went past, there were bikes on fire and still some people on the ground, so it was really scary to be honest. I’m glad everyone walked away from that and, at the end of the day, it’s not the way I wanted to get my first points, but they say that ‘first you must finish’ and today I finished. Even in the restarted race, there was a fight right in front of me with one rider down and even though we had quite the crazy circumstances, we still had to get to the finish line. I am still happy for myself because I made a step in that restart, and I went the fastest I’ve done all weekend in the dry. We need to look at the big picture and we got our first points so, we’re going to take that with us, but we also need to take the work we did this weekend; we kept it on two wheels, we progressed in the wet, we were strong in the wet and we kept on building in the dry. I’m looking forward to Jerez now.”

John Hopkins – Racing Director

“It was a wild weekend all around. Being in Portimão, we assumed we were going to be in nice, sunny weather all weekend long, but nobody can control the weather. It was a pretty solid weekend all the way through. Cam was on fire in every session and every condition. He was strong like we expected him to be. He was riding really well, he felt really comfortable.

For Sean, we knew it was going to be another experience, yet we knew he’d done some laps here, but it was a track he’d struggled at in testing at the beginning of the year, so it was a matter of him just regaining the confidence and working his way forward which he did! In the rain sessions, he had solid pace throughout the weekend and was steadily working his way forward then unfortunately the only dry session of the weekend ended up being in qualifying, so it ended up being a bit difficult for him.

For Cam, we knew he was going to be strong, and he went out and put it on the front row, did the lap time entirely by himself so it was a good weekend up until that point. He was solid, we knew he was going to be strong; his confidence was on a high and everything was looking and feeling good. As for the race, unfortunately, it was one of ‘those’. It’s an incident that nobody can control. I’ve had it in MotoGP races when you have a wet part of the track, you can be on one part and it pours in another, it’s always the leaders who find it out first and, unfortunately for Cam, that was what happened. It was just an extremely unlucky unfortunate incident but there was nothing he could have done differently to avoid it. I am 100% confident he would have won that race. He easily had the pace; he was doing the exact race plan we had set out to do. It’s funny, I have every bit of belief that he would have won that.

On the other hand, it worked out in Sean’s favour. It was awesome to see Sean get some points. He’s finally up on the board for receiving his first Moto2 points and he was solid in the race. In the second part of the race, even though the conditions were not that good and there were still wet areas, he went a second faster than he did in the first start and that was the plan, that was what we told him to do in the beginning; work on your pace, this is your chance to really work on yourself and work on the riding. Now we’re going to Jerez where he was really strong in testing at the start of the year, so we’re excited about it.

It was a bummer, it was a knock, but we’ll get back up again and I’m sure the riders and the team will be strong going into Jerez, we’ve got to turn it around and get the results they both deserve and reach their full potential.”

More, from a press release issued by Dorna:

Portimão perfection: Quartararo pulls the pin for victory and the Championship lead

The reigning Champion is back on top, with Zarco and Aleix Espargaro completing the podium after drama between Mir and Miller

Sunday, 24 April 2022

How’s that for a victory? Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™’s Fabio Quartararo got the hammer down to dominate the Grande Premio Tissot de Portugal and take his first win of the season in style, nearly five seconds clear by the flag. In a day to remember for France, he was joined on the podium by Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) in second, whilst Aprilia Racing’s Aleix Espargaro benefitted from late drama involving Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) and Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) to take third. Quartararo is now leading the Championship although tied with points with Team Suzuki Ecstar’s Alex Rins, who put in arguably the ride of the day by recovering from 23rd on the grid to finish fourth.

Off the line it was Mir with the perfect launch, firing clear of the rest of the grid to take the holeshot and gain some early breathing space. Another strong start came from Quartararo too, who quickly moved through on his compatriot Zarco to take second halfway around the opening lap. Meanwhile, further back, Alex Rins had somehow launched his Suzuki up an incredible 13 places on the first lap to go from 23rd to inside the top ten.

At the front, it didn’t take long for Quartararo to get into his rhythm. The Frenchman was flying and had quickly reduced Mir’s early advantage down to nothing before then, at the start of Lap 4, he made his move on the 2020 World Champion at Turn 1. Mir had no response and Quartararo was leading a race for the first time this year.

Nobody could match the metronomic pace of the reigning World Champion as he edged further and further into the lead. A new fastest lap and lap record, a 1:39.435, came in on Lap 10, by which point Mir had seemingly been forced to throw in the towel and was starting to instead look over his shoulder in the fight for second. Quartararo would eventually cruise across the line over five seconds clear of second place for his first victory since the British Grand Prix in August of last year and, as a result, he jumps to the top of the MotoGP™ World Championship standings.

It was much closer in the fight for the final podium places, with Mir defending hard as Zarco applied more and more pressure. The Frenchman took advantage of a tiny error by the Spaniard out of the final corner to power past him down the start-finish straight and take over in second, but the Frenchman ran wide at Turn 1 – allowing Mir to swoop back through. A lap later though Zarco got the job done, again capitalising on a small wheelie from Mir out of the final corner to dive through on the brakes into Turn 1, this time making it stick.

Soon enough, only six laps remained and Miller was now challenging Mir for third.  And then came the biggest drama of the race as the Australian pulled alongside the Suzuki man down the start-finish straight and they headed into Turn 1 side-by-side on the brakes… before the front end of Miller’s Ducati let go. He went down and he took an innocent and unsuspecting Mir with him, both riders ok but scoring a painful 0 points each.

That elevated Aleix Espargaro to third as he eyed only the third MotoGP™ rostrum finish for Aprilia, with the number 41 having shown good pace to get into the podium postcode. The Argentina winner closed onto the rear wheel of Zarco on the final lap too, but just couldn’t find a way through. Zarco took second, the thirteenth of his premier class career, and Aleix Espargaro had to settle for third – but one step closer to Aprilia losing out on concessions as their successes continue.

Fourth across the line was arguably the man of the day, however: Rins. A quite incredible performance from the factory Suzuki man saw him come through from 23rd and, in doing so, the number 42 lifted himself to equal  on points with Quartararo in the Championship chase.

Another strong comeback ride came courtesy of home hero Miguel Oliveira, as the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing man clinched a top five to bounce back from two crashes on home soil in 2021.

Behind that, it was Marquez vs Marquez. For the first time in MotoGP™ we were treated to a 73 vs 93 battle on the final lap of the race, with LCR Castrol Honda’s Alex Marquez holding off older brother Marc quite brilliantly as the laps ticked by. But on the last lap, the gloves came off. The eight-time World Champion squeezed his way through to take sixth place, but it was by just 0.020 ahead of Alex as the number 73 absolutely nailed the final corner and the two crossed the line side by side.

Only half a second back on that duel, Ducati Lenovo Team’s Francesco Bagnaia was gritting his teeth through the pain barrier to salvage eighth place too, thanks to a last lap move on Repsol Honda’s Pol Espargaro. Bagnaia started dead last, making up a pile of positions on race day despite a painful shoulder.

Aprilia’s Maverick Viñales took the final place inside the top ten as the 12-Noale combination continues to gain some traction, with a gap then back to Andrea Dovizioso (WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP). The veteran held off Mooney VR46’s Luca Marini, with Franco Morbidelli (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) next up. Two rookies completed the points as Remy Gardner (Tech3 KTM Factory Racing) pulled clear of Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team).

There were crashes for Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing), Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini Racing MotoGP™), and Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Idemitsu Honda), although the Japanese rider finished. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) also crashed out, bringing to an end a run of 18 straight point-scoring finishes. Perhaps most notably, the former World Championship leader, Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) tumbled out – but the Italian remains in touch in the standings, only eight points off the top.

From the Algarve to Andalucia, MotoGP™ now gets back on the road to head for the Gran Premio Red Bull de España. It’s only next weekend too, so get ready for more as the Circuito de Jerez-Angeli Nieto welcomes the paddock back once more.

MotoGP™ PODIUM

1 Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) – Yamaha – 41’39.611

2 Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing) – Ducati – +5.409

3 Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing) – Aprilia – +6.068

Fabio Quartararo: “Pushing myself to the limit. To be honest, I pushed the same in Austin and Argentina but mainly here our bike feels good, the straight is not so long and we had grip so we could go hammer time! Today I felt amazing from the Warm Up but in the race I made an amazing start. I wanted to be aggressive from the beginning because I knew if I was behind the Ducatis I would struggle so much. I’m super happy because I managed to get that first victory of the season and it’s the most important thing for me, to you know, never give up and it was the most important.”

The first win of the season for the reigning Champion also sees him lead the Championship

Roberts takes maiden win after dramatic Moto2™ race

The American dominated a shortened seven-lap sprint, pulling nearly three seconds clear of Vietti after a dramatic first start for some key players

Italtrans Racing Team’s Joe Roberts is a Grand Prix winner! Grabbing a golden opportunity in a red-flagged and dramatic intermediate class encounter at the Grande Premio Tissot de Portugal, the American bolted nearly three seconds clear in only a seven-lap sprint, taking the first intermediate class win for the USA in 32 years, and the first in any class since 2011. Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) took second to extend his points lead by a margin after drama for key contenders, with Jorge Navarro (Flexbox HP 40) completing the podium.

A first start saw Cameron Beaubier (American Racing) take the holeshot from Aron Canet (FlexBox HP40) before the Spaniard then hit the front, but an isolated rain shower at Turn 2 then caught out eleven riders, including the top six at the time.

The leading trio of Canet, Beaubier and Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) were joined in the gravel trap seconds later by Chantra, Arbolino, Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing), Albert Arenas (Autosolar GasGas Aspar), Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo), Zonta van den Goorbergh (RW Racing) and Simone Corsi (MV Agusta Forward Racing) as the sudden shower caused some chaos, with the red flag shown immediately thereafter.

None of the riders involved in the Turn 2 pile-up were able to take part in the 7-lap restart, meaning we had a revised grid of 18 riders: Autosolar GasGas Aspar Team’s Jake Dixon fired from pole position and took the lead on the opening lap, with Roberts starting second, but disaster struck for the Brit at Turn 7 as he slid out.

Roberts then put the pedal to the metal, and the American was absolutely hammering clear. The Californian was three seconds ahead of the fight for second in the blink of an eye, before managing his nerves on the final couple of laps to take a historic win – eleven years on from the last American Grand Prix victory and 32 years on from the last in the intermediate class.

Championship leader Vietti fought his way back into second for a valuable 20 points as key rivals were denied the chance to score, making the most of his slice of fortune as he extended his title lead out to 34 points. The Italian managed to find a way through on Navarro on the penultimate lap, before defending well on the final lap to secure his fourth podium in the opening five races of 2022. Navarro was delighted with third though, a first rostrum visit since Silverstone last year. Strong rides came in from Marcel Schrötter and rookie Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha VR46 MasterCamp) to take fourth and fifth.

Fellow rookie Jeremy Alcoba (Liqui Moly Intact GP) ended up sixth after Fermin Aldeguer (Lightech Speed Up) was demoted a place to seventh on the final lap afetr a track limits infringement, and rounding out the top ten were Bo Bendsneyder (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team), Barry Baltus (RW Racing) and Gabriel Rodrigo (Pertamina Mandalika SAG Team).

Moto2™ heads for Jerez next, with a fair few serious contenders looking to bounce back and get some serious points. Who will come out on top in Andalucia? We’ll find out next weekend!

Moto2™ PODIUM

1 Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) – Kalex – 12’09.757

2 Celestino Vietti (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) – Kalex – +2.818

3 Jorge Navarro (Flexbox HP 40) – Kalex – +2.991

Joe Roberts: “Man, it’s been a long road for me. It means so much to me to get that win, especially for all the American fans back home. It’s been a long time coming but we finally got it done. It’s real nice to see the flag at the top of the podium. I couldn’t believe it. In the last two laps, I saw the gap and I was like ‘I can’t believe I have this gap right now’. I couldn’t even ride on the last lap, I was all over the place. I just wanted to not make a mistake and bring it home. It’s an amazing day for my team, for everyone back home in America and I just want to say a big thank you to everyone who’s supported me during this time. Let’s hope it’s the first of many!”

Garcia grabs Championship lead with perfect push for victory in Portugal

The Aspar rider is back on top, Masia and Sasaki complete the podium after a five-rider fight for the win on the Algarve 

Sergio Garcia (Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team) took his second win of the year in the Grande Premio Tissot de Portugal, first escaping in the lead and then fighting it out in a five-rider battle that went down to the final lap. COTA winner Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was back on the podium in second as he gets into the 2022 groove, and likewise Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) in third as the Japanese rider continues his speed this season.

Polesitter Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech3) got a great start to take the holeshot, but it was a storming start for Garcia and the number 11 was soon right on the Turk’s tail. Even sooner, he was past and making a gap at the front as Öncü slipped back into the clutches of Izan Guevara (Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team), Sasaki and Masia.

As the laps ticked on, Guevara was tucked in and hunting down his teammate. A gap of over a second and a half gradually disappeared until, with 12 laps to go, the number 28 GASGAS machine took over at the front, and the troops had arrived alongside too to create a five-rider fight for the win.

Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing), meanwhile, was still facing a fight for a bigger points haul. The number 7 faded back to outside the points early on and then had to pick his way back through, up to just outside the top ten with 10 to go.

By then, the battle at the front was heating up although the quintet remained over five seconds clear. Masia and Garcia bashed fairings into Turn 1 as both went for the same bit of track, no harm done, but the elbows were out and they remained so.

Onto the last lap, Sasaki was ahead but Garcia nailed the final corner to tuck into the slipstream, shooting past and leading into Turn 1. Masia attacked too and got past Sasaki, then able to start homing in on the number 11 ahead, but it was soon close as ever. By the final corner for the final time, Garcia, Masia, Sasaki, Öncu and Guevara were absolutely glued together, and hammering towards the line each was just able to hang on in that order. No moves were made, but it was a spectacular finish nonetheless.

That’s a second win for Garcia this season and it puts him into the Championship lead by two points ahead of Foggia, and it was victory in a different style to his perfect pickpocketing in Argentina. Masia takes back to back podiums as he comes home second two weeks on from his COTA win, with Sasaki back on the box once again as his consistency continues in 2022.

Öncü just misses out on the podium once more but showed good speed, with Guevara forced to settle for fifth and the final spot in that fight at the front.

The battle behind saw Carlos Tatay (CFMoto Racing PrüstelGP) come out on top in P6, with he and Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team) able to get a little breathing space and turn that into a duel.

Foggia pushed his way through to eighth to do some damage limitation, with Australian rookie Joel Kelso (CIP Green Power) taking P9. Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI) was top debutant for much of the battle and crossed the line nearly alongside Foggia, but the Brazilian was then docked two positions for exceeding track limits and is classified P10.

Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse), Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing) and British rookie Scott Ogden (VisionTrack Racing Team) were the last of that group in P11, P12 and P13, with Lorenzo Fellon (SIC58 Squadra Corse) and Stefano Nepa (Angeluss MTA Team) completing the points scorers – Fellon despite a late Long Lap Penalty for track limits, and Nepa just pipping front row starter Mario Aji (Honda Team Asia).

That’s a wrap on the rollercoaster for another season – and it’s next stop Jerez with home hero Garcia back on top in the standings. It’s only two points in it though, so can Foggia hit back on enemy turf? We’ll find out next weekend!

Moto3™ PODIUM

1 Sergio Garcia (Valresa GASGAS Aspar Team) – GASGAS – 38’17.725

2 Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) – KTM – +0.069

3 Ayumu Sasaki (Sterilgarda Max Racing Team) – Husqvarna – +0.110

Sergio Garcia: “It was amazing today. It was the first time I began the last lap in first position, and then finished in first position. Today was a really difficult race but I pushed really hard. The track was very slippery but I pushed until the last corner. This is for all my family and all my team and I’m really, really happy!”