Maverick Viñales brilliantly won the Sprint race of the Portuguese Grand Prix, adding a victory to his and Aprilia's record. From an advantageous position on the grid, Viñales played his cards with sagacity, seizing the opportunity offered by a mistake from Pecco Bagnaia, who until then had led unchallenged, to fly to victory.
This success marks the second victory ofAprilia in a Sprint race, the first taking place in Barcelona in 2023. Marc Marquez, reinvigorated, managed to climb to second place, despite a mistake at the start of the race, ahead of George Martin from Ducati Pramac who finished third.
To Marc Marquez, this podium in the race Sprint is his best result to date, surpassing his third place achieved here in Portimao the previous year. He executed an impeccable overtake on Martin to secure second place.
bagnaia had to settle for fourth position after his mistake, unable to maintain the pace set by the leaders. Behind him we find Jack Miller on KTM and Enea Bastianini on Ducati, who had a difficult start, having failed to activate its front lowering system, thus losing positions from the start.
Pedro Acosta still does not disappoint in Portugal
The beginner Peter Acosta impressed by placing seventh, ahead of Aleix Espargaró on Aprilia and fabio quartararo on Yamaha, the best placed rider on a Japanese motorcycle. Raul Fernandez completes the top 10 aboard his Aprilia from the TrackHouse team.
The race was also marked by falls of Brad Binder, Johann zarco, Fabio di Giannantonio, and alex rins, fortunately not serious for them. A difficult day for the Hondas, Joan mir ranking as the best of them in 14th position, more than 14 seconds behind the leader.
In the general classification of the championship, bagnaia leads with 37 points, ahead George Martin of two points and Brad Binder which has 8 less. Marc Marquez, with a delay of 10 points, occupies fourth place.
When happiness skyrockets 🚀
Maverick collects his first #TissotSprint gold medal 🥇#PortugueseGP 🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/ddtk3tJoGq
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) March 23, 2024
All these beautiful people will come together with the idea of confirming or taking their revenge this Sunday for the Grand Prix itself. You won't have to miss a thing. Exactly, here is the program…
MotoGP, Portugal J2: Starting grid:
MotoGP, Portugal J2: Sprint classification
Credit classification motogp.com
2024 Portuguese GP (CET) times:
Sunday March 10:
10:40 a.m. – 10:50 a.m. (10 min): MotoGP, warm up
12:00 p.m.: Moto3 race (19 laps)
13:15 p.m.: Moto2 race (21 laps)
15:00 p.m.: MotoGP race (25 laps)
