MADRID, 21 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Motorcycle World Championship lands this weekend in Europe for the Portuguese Grand Prix, the second event of the championship to which the Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) arrives as the first leader in MotoGP after a first race that designed a very similar panorama to 2023, except for the appearance already in the front positions of Marc Márquez (Ducati) and the daring of Pedro Acosta (KTM).
The premiere of the World Cup on the night of Losail (Qatar) demonstrated the expected dominance of the Borgo Panigale factory, which added the two victories of the weekend, with their respective best assets. The Spanish Jorge Martín demonstrated his good work in the Sprint, where in 2023 he was the best, and took the victory, while the current champion dominated the long race, where he handled himself best last year.
Bagnaia was fourth on Saturday and left Qatar with 31 points, two points ahead of South African Brad Binder, whose KTM warned of its potential for this year after what was offered in 2023 and which was the only non-Ducati bike in the ‘Top 7’, and three over Martín, the three who had the most consistent weekend that they will try to repeat on the Algarve Circuit.
The one from Turin already dominated this event last year, with a double victory on Saturday and Sunday, and is once again emerging as the rival to beat for the rest of the Italian factory’s motorcycles, led by Martín, who on his last visit to the Portuguese track crashed in Sunday’s race and he hopes to give the number ‘1’ a ‘battle’ this time so that he doesn’t escape.
And another asset that Ducati may have in this second event is that of Marc Márquez. The eight-time world champion had a great debut on the back of a ‘Desmosedici’, achieving an excellent fourth place in Losail that made him arrive excited in Portimao where last year, with the Honda, he was able to take pole position and to be third in the Sprint, before failing to aspire to the podium on Sunday after an early fall.
Aprilia hopes to make a leap over Qatar, especially in the long race, because Aleix Espargaró was third in the Sprint, while at KTM, in addition to the commitment to Binder, there will also be expectation to see the performance of the ‘rookie’ again. Pedro Acosta from Murcia, winner in Moto2 last year and who already shone in Losail with two ‘Top 10’ finishes, especially the ninth place on Sunday.
He will also try to improve the Repsol Honda, which could not move away from its discreet 2023 line and which was once again far from the best, with the Balearic Joan Mir finishing thirteenth on Sunday, more than 18 seconds behind Bagnaia and five from the ‘Top 10 ‘. The Italian Luca Marini, in his debut, could not score any points. Things didn’t go well for Yamaha either with only five points scored by the Frenchman Fabian Quartararo and nothing for the debutant Alex Rins.
As for the other two categories, the Spanish Alonso López (Boscoscuro) will have the responsibility of defending his leadership in Moto2 after being the only national rider who climbed to the first step of the podium in the first race of the season.
For its part, in Moto3, where a Spaniard has won since this circuit entered the calendar in 2020, it will be the Colombian David Alonso (CFMoto), one of the favorites, who will start as leader ahead of Alicante’s Dani Holgado ( KTM), which won the last visit to Portimao.
2024-03-21 17:42:56
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