3rd race of the calendar, as the riders competed today on the “Autódromo Internacional do Algarve” for this year’s Portuguese GP. A race that saw yet again a particular pattern that has been seen on the previous 2 rounds. But this time with more retirements on the grid.

As lights went off, it was Johann Zarco who lead on the first laps, chased by both Suzuki’s of Rins and Mir behind. Another hard start for the Yamahas, with Quartararo at 6th and Viñales at the back of the pack.

As the first laps passed by, Alex Rins started to fight for position with Johann Zarco, that eventually let to the frenchman commit a mistake that demoted him behind both Suzukis on 3rd place. The incidents on track were starting to showing, with Jack Miller retiring and Miguel Oliveira losing time

Eventually, the Poleman Fabio Quartararo was on its way to the lead, as the Yamaha made its was to 1st place after a move on Alex Rins. With the Yamaha bike started to escape like he did on the last race on Losali.

The battle for 2nd was an intense one, as Rins, Zarco, Mir and Morbidelli were chasing hard on track and pushing it to the limit. Meanwhile Bagnaia was started to gain some momentum with some strong fast laps, getting closer tho the podium group.

But drama was going to exponentially increase, with first Alex Rins going to the gravel and then championship leader Johann Zarco. A huge hit to the riders standings. Bagnaia did catch up with the leading group and overtook both Morbidelli and Mir.

Fabio Quartararo took the chequered flag for the 2nd consecutive time and gains control of the riders standings Bagnaia have a great comeback with a great 2nd place and Joan Mir closes the podium

Race Results:

1. Fabio Quartararo /// 2. Francesco Bagnaia /// 3. Joan Mir
4. Franco Morbidelli /// 5. Brad Binder /// 6. Aleix Espargaro
7. Marc Marquez /// 8. Alex Marquez /// 9. Enea Bastianini
10. Takaaki Nakagami /// 11. Maverick Viñales /// 12. Luca Marini
13. Danilo Petrucci /// 14. Lorenzo Savadori /// 15. Iker Lecuona
16. Miguel Oliveira

DNF: Johann Zarco, Alex Rins, Valentino Rossi, Jack Miller, Pol Espargaro

Quartararo takes control of the championship, as Yamaha keeps showing a better performance on race compared to its competitors. We’ll see if they keep the same consistence when the calendar goes to Jerez on 2 weeks.