More From MotoGP In Portugal
By Michael Gougis
Francesco “Pecco” Bagnaia kept his cool in the opening chaotic laps of the MotoGP race, kept his nerve with Maverick Vinales stalking him the entire race and kept his perfect record intact by winning his second race in a row in Portugal.
Bagnaia added the Sunday race win to his equally measured victory in Saturday’s sprint race and came away from the weekend with a perfect 37 points.
Surprise sprint race podium finisher Marc Marquez clipped Jorge Martin and plowed into local hero Miguel Oliveira, taking himself and Oliveira out of the race. Marquez suffered a suspected broken metacarpal bone, was given a double long lap penalty at the next round, and was jeered by Portuguese fans with extended middle fingers and boos as he got a scooter ride back to the pits. Oliveira was diagnosed with a contusion to his leg. Martin dropped several positions and later crashed.
Maverick Vinales took a close second for the Aprilia factory team, with Marco Bezzecchi claiming his second MotoGP podium on his Mooney VR46 Racing Team Desmosedici. Johann Zarco took fourth on the Prima Pramac satellite Ducati, while Alex Marquez finished fifth after running near the front for much of the weekend.
Pedro Acosta took a clean win in the Moto2 race, Daniel Holgado held off the field to take the Moto3 victory and Angel Piqueras won both Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup races.
