Quartararo Sails To First Win Of MotoGP Title Defence
Calum Gill 14:10 24/04/2022
Defending MotoGP champion Fabio Quartararo became the fourth different race winner in 2022 by utterly dominating the Portuguese Grand Prix at Portimao.
Quartararo made light work of fighting through to the lead from fifth on the grid and disappeared into the distance, as the biggest drama of the race took place behind him - with Joan Mir (Suzuki) and Jack Miller (Ducati), who had had their disagreements in the past, exiting in a late collision. On pole for the seventh time in his premier-class career, Johann Zarco bogged down off the line, handing the lead to Mir immediately and only managing to claim second place by being very late on the brakes at Turn 1. He was then shuffled down the order over the next few corners by Quartararo, Miller and Álex Márquez, albeit then repassing the latter pair at the penultimate corner on the opening and second laps respectively.
As Zarco fought back through to third, Mir’s early eight-tenths breakaway had been negated almost immediately by Quartararo - and the Frenchman eased past Suzuki’s 2020 champion on the main straight at the start of the fourth lap. It took Quartararo just a couple of laps to stretch his lead up to a second, and it continued to grow relentlessly from there as Mir started to come under pressure from Zarco. By the time Zarco made his first proper attempt, slipstreaming past Mir on lap 16 but failing to get the bike stopped in time at Turn 1 to keep the position, the duo’s battle was joined by Miller - while Quartararo was already four and a half seconds up the road and heading for his first MotoGP win since the 2021 British GP last August.
Zarco completed the move a lap later, but Miller’s attempt to do the same ended in disaster - as he threw it down the inside of Mir at Turn 1 but tucked the front of his Ducati trying to brake late enough, falling and wiping out Mir along with him. This opened the door to Aleix Espargaró, who had lost ground after a front-row start but came on strong at the end of the race, to challenge Zarco for second - but the Pramac man survived the late onslaught to complete a French 1-2, 5.4 seconds behind Quartararo. Suzuki’s Álex Rins, who started 23rd, mounted a remarkable charge made possible by him getting up to 11th on the very first lap. His progression eventually hit a roadblock in the form of Espargaró’s Aprilia, but a fourth-place finish leaves him level on points with Quartararo at the top of the standings - with Espargaró a further three down.
Home hero Miguel Oliveira rode a rather lonely race to fifth place on his Red Bull KTM, while Marc Márquez (Honda) recovered from a poor opening few laps to pick off his brother Álex Márquez (LCR Honda) by 0.020 seconds for sixth place. Right behind him, Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) - who appeared in some doubt for the race after his nasty crash in qualifying, recovered from last to eighth, beating Pol Espargaró (Repsol Honda) on the very last lap. Maverick Viñales completed the top 10 for Aprilia, while RNF’s Andrea Dovizioso was the best of the non-Quartararo Yamahas in 11th. While his Tech3 KTM team-mate Raúl Fernández had to miss the race after sustaining a hand injury on Saturday, Remy Gardner was the top rookie in 14th, by a fairly comfortable margin.
Erstwhile championship leader Enea Bastianini of Gresini, the only repeat winner of the season so far, crashed out soon after passing Pol Espargaró at speed at Turn 8. Also falling were Jorge Martín (Pramac), recording his third retirement in five races with a crash out of 11th place, and Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda), down but able to remount after tagging the rear wheel of Brad Binder’s Red Bull KTM. Binder himself then fell a few laps later, drawing a blank in what was comfortably his worst race of the season so far, while there was also a late exit for Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini) and a last-lap crash for Aprilia wildcard Lorenzo Savadori.
