Portimao MotoGP: Francesco Bagnaia remains perfect in Portimao as he beats Maverick Vinales to victory

Francesco Bagnaia has won his second race of the 2023 MotoGP season after beating Maverick Vinales, while Marc Marquez was jeered by the home crowd after taking out Miguel Oliveira.
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati MotoGP Portimao 2023
Francesco Bagnaia, Ducati MotoGP Portimao 2023

Making a brilliant start from third was Jorge Martin, however, the best launch of them all went to Oliveira as the home favourite went fro🔯m fourth to first. 

Martin responded on the approach to turn 🔜two before Marquez sent his Reps🎉ol Honda to the inside of both riders.

Marquez, who tried to keep the lead on corner e🎀xit,𓂃 made contact with Martin who was on the Honda rider’s inside.

The clash gifted Oliveira back the lead as Bagnaia 🧔managed to jump ahead of Marquez but not Martin.

However, at the start of l🔯ap two Bagnaia made an early move on Martin before taking the lead a few corners later.

Then came a race-changing incident on la⛎p three as Marquez got his braking all wrong at turn three.

The eight-time world champion clipped the rear of Martin’s Pramac Ducati, moments🌜 before clattering into Oliveira at full speed.

Martin dropped down to 15th as a result of the clash, whereas Oliveiꦦra remained down for some time as he appeared to be hurt from the accident.

Marquez rushed to check on Oliveira before atꦐtempting to get his H𒉰onda restarted, while the RNF Aprilai rider remained down for nearly an entire lap. 

Despite being gifted a big lea🐓d following the clash betw꧋een Marquez, Martin and Oliveira, Bagnaia was not having things his own way.

Maverick Vinales was quick to close down the reigning world champion, while Jack Miller was unable to replicate his early potential from the Sprint race. The Australian was pushed down to fifth by Marꦆco Bezzecchi and Alex Marquez. 

As Vinales continued to pressure Bagnaia for the lead, Faꦐbio Di Giannantonio retired from the race with an apparent technical issue. 

Producing Sunday miracles once again despite suffering from a🐻 neck injury all weekend, Brad Binder was sixth with 11🍒 laps gone, and one place behind teammate Miller. 

After seeing Vinales get within two tenths of his race lead, Bagnaia decided to put the hammer down and set back-to꧂-back personalဣ best laps, which was enough to increase the lead to eight tenths. 

Showing strong race pace after another poor start, Fabio Quartararo was 🍰finding it difficult to drag his Yamaha up the order as he sat in a lo💫nely tenth with nine laps remaining. 

Bagnaia, who built his lead to 1.3 seconds, then had to react quickly as Vinales found six tenths on the race 𝕴l🤪eader.

The factory Ducati rider did just that, although Vinales was still faster on 𝐆the next lap around as he found another two tenth𝕴s. 

After seeing his teammate fail to make a move stick on Marquez tജwice, Binder tried his luck after putting back-to-back overtakes on Miller and Marquez. 

However, the same problem occurred for Binder as he saw Marquez use his Ducati power to blastꦆ back ahead on the run🦂 to turn one. 

As Bagnaia hel♏d on to take victory, Zarco delivered a stunning charge in the 🦩final three laps as he overtook Miller, Binder and Marquez to claim an unlikely P4.

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