2021 MotoGP | Round 3 at Portimao results - Marc Marquez returns to racing
It feels like forever since the last MotoGP race, but round 3 is complete - Marc Marquez returns, Quartararo puts in a shift, and Portimao gets the better of a few riders.
PORTIMAO round 3 of the MotoGP is complete, Quartararo takes home the win after a dominant display, Marc Marquez returns to racing and finishes in 7th (+13 seconds), and Zarco, Rins, Rossi, Miller and Pol Espargaro drop out.
Back-to-back wins for Fabio Quartararo, as he puts in a dominant display following qualifying in first - also taking the lead in the championship standings after Johann Zarco crashes out of the race and is unable to take home any points.
Alex Rins was an early leader, before the pace of Quartararo took over and he led the field. Rins was pushing the Suzuki to the limit, and was the only rider in sight of Quartararo before unfortunately crashing out. He drops to 7th in the championship standings, but should be proud of his performance.
Bagnaia, Mir and Morbidelli were battling to the end and fighting for the other two places on the podium, but Morbidelli just missed out as the three riders all finished within 0.3 seconds of one another.
Marc Marquez returned to racing after a long time out, and will be extremely happy with his seventh place finish, +13.2 seconds from Quartararo. The eight-time world champ was briefly in third place - but a bit of contact with Mir saw him drop down the field, with crash-outs ahead of him improving his final position.
Marquez will be ecstatic to earn his first championship points of the season, especially finishing just ahead of Alex Marquez.
A number of crashes on the undulating Portimao circuit also saw Johann Zarco, Valentino Rossi, Jack Miller and Pol Espargaro drop out, particularly disappointing for Johann Zarco who could have done with points to keep his lead in the championship standings. As the race commentators noted, he was pushing the bike when he could have settled for points - but Ducati will have wanted him to push as opposed to settling.
It was interesting to see Viñales finish in 11th - his potential pole-setting lap was wiped after exceeding track limits, but he was unable to find pace in Portimao, pointing towards grip issues and quoted saying “it was not normal what I was feeling on this bike”.
The next round is the Spanish GP at Jerez, on the 2nd of May.
For the full race results check the crash.net race report.
