Martin wins Portuguese GP as Bagnaia, Marquez collide

Martin led all 25 laps around the Portimao circuit on his Pramac Ducati, with Enea Bastianini (Ducati Team) finishing second and Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GasGas Tech3) inheriting a maiden podium after Sprint winner Maverick Viñales’ (Aprilia Racing) final-lap crash.

Red Bull KTM duo Brad Binder and Jack Miller rounded out the top five while Bagnaia (Ducati Team) retired to the pits and Marc Marquez (Gresini Ducati) finished one position outside the points.

In the riders’ championship, Martin leads, by a margin of 18 points to Binder after Round 2.

Back at the start, Martin got the holeshot and led the field to the first corner, before Viñales passed Bastianini midway through Lap 1 of 25.

Bagnaia settled into fourth after an early battle with Marc Marquez, while Miller ran sixth, from Acosta and Binder.

Binder rounded up Acosta at Turn 4 on Lap 3 when the rookie lost momentum attacking Miller, before both went past #43 at Turn 1 on Lap 5.

Acosta went down the inside of Binder at Turn 1 on Lap 7 and set after Marc Marquez, who was 0.5s up the road.

He belted out a new fastest lap and passed Marc Marquez for fifth exactly a lap later, meaning Bagnaia was the next target.

Acosta threw it down the inside at Turn 1 on Lap 12 but had a big wobble and could not make the move stick, as the deficit relative to the top three – still Martin, Viñales, and Bastianini – grew to 1.6s.

Martin started to push on Lap 15 and stretched his margin to 0.8s but Bagnaia had lost all pace with five laps to go.

Acosta passed him for fourth at Turn 3 on Lap 21 and Marc Marquez immediately latched on to the rear of the #1 Ducati while, ahead, Bastianini had closed back up to Viñales.

Marc Marquez went down the inside of Bagnaia at Turn 5 on Lap 23 but when the Italian tried the cutback, they made contact and both crashed, with the matter going to a post-race review but ultimately declared a racing incident.

At the end of the penultimate lap, Viñales was slow off the final corner and was passed by Bastianini, then ran wide at Turn 1 and highsided on the green paint.

Martin won by 0.882s, from Bastianini, Acosta, Binder, Miller, Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati), Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha), Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing), Miguel Oliveira (Trackhouse Aprilia), Fabio Di Giannantonio, and Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull GasGas Tech3).

Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati) and Raul Fernandez (Trackhouse Aprilia) were early crashers, before being joined by Bagnaia and Viñales as DNFs.

Round 3, the Grand Prix of The Americas, takes place at the Circuit of The Americas on April 12-14 (local time).

Race results: Grand Prix race

Race winner: 25 laps

Riders’ championship