Portugal MotoGP Final Results 2022

The Yamaha rider passed early leader Joan Mir on the fourth lap and romped to a crucial first win of a so far difficult season, having failed to win a race since Silverstone last year.

Mir streaked away off the line from second on the grid to lead a race for the first time since his title-winning season in 2020, while Quartararo leaped from fifth to third.

Between the two champions was Pramac poleman Johann Zarco, but Quartararo took second into the Turn 3 right-hander as Mir pulled around six tenths clear at the front.

Quartararo was soon within striking distance, making his move into Turn 1 on the fourth tour having nailed his run out of the sweeping downhill final corner and taken profit of the Suzuki’s tow.

Zarco was briefly shoved back to fifth by factory Ducati counterpart Jack Miller and the LCR Honda of Alex Marquez – though he quickly got back into the podium places by the end of the second lap.

The Frenchman finished in second place, having passed Mir on lap 17 and leaving the Suzuki man to fend off fourth-placed Jack Miller.

But the pair collided on lap 19, with Miller losing the front of his Ducati under braking and wiping out Mir.

This promoted Aprilia’s Aleix Esparagaro up to third, with the Argentina winner now third in the championship standings with 66 points behind Quartararo and Suzuki’s Alex Rins, both on 69.

Rins qualified in 23rd after making a strategy error in the wet-to-dry Q1 session, but rocketed to 11th on the opening lap and marched his way through the bottom half of the top 10 before finishing fourth.

Home hero Miguel Oliviera completed the top five on his factory KTM, with Marc Marquez beating his brother Alex Marquez by 0.020s across the line after the pair engaged in a heated battle for sixth in the closing stages.

The six-time world champion had a similarly tight battle with team-mate Pol Esparagaro in the early stages, but came out on top, while the latter was shuffled back to ninth behind Francesco Bagnaia on the Ducati – the pair making contact on the final lap at Turn 9.

The top 10 was completed by Maverick Vinales on the sister Aprilia, with RNF Racing;s Andra Dovizioiso, VR46 Ducati rider Luca Marini Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli, Tech3 KTM rookie Remy Gardner and the sister VR46 bike of Marco Bezzecchi took the final points.