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 from fourth to first. 

Martin responded on𒐪 the approach to turn two before Marquez sent his Repsol Honda to the𒁃 inside of both riders.

Marquez, who tried to keep the lead on corner exi🌟t, maౠde contact with Martin who was on the Honda rider’s inside.

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

However, at the start of lap two Bagna🃏ia made an early move on Martin before taking the lead a few corners later.

Then came a race-changing incident on lap three as Marquez got his bra💝king all wrong at turn three.

The eight-time wo🥃rld 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 Oliveira r🧔emained down for some time as he appeared to be hurt from the accident.

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

Despite being gifted a big lead following theཧ clash between Marquez, Martin and Oliveira, Bagnaia was not havin🍰g things his own way.

Maverꦰick 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 Marco Bezzecchi and Alex Marquez. 

As Vinales continued to pressure Bagnaia for the lead,ꦕ Fabio 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 l༒aps gone, and one place behind teammate Miller. 

After seeing Vinales get within two🧸 tenths of his race lead, Bagඣnaia decided to put the hammer down and set back-to-back personal 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 lonely tenth with nine laps remaining. 

Bagnaia, who b💎uilt his lead to 1.3 seconds, then had to react quickly as Vinales found six tenths on the race leader.

The factory Ducati rid𝔉er did just that, although Vina⭕les was still faster on the next lap around as he found another two tenths. 

Aft﷽er seeing his teammate fail to make a move stick on Marquez twice, 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 blast🅘 back ahead on the run to turn one. 

As Bagnaia held on to take victory, Zarco dꦬelivered a stunning charge in the final three laps as he overtook Miller, Binder and Marquez 💖to claim an unlikely P4.

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