Alex Marquez wins a thrilling battle with Pedro Acosta and Marco Bezzecchi in the 2025 Portimao MotoGP Sprint race.
After overtaking Aprilia pole qualifier Bezzecchi for the lead on lap 3, Acosta put up a ferocious defence of his lead against Marquez.
The Gresini Ducati rider had shown daunting pace since Friday, but Acosta wouldn’t let him use it: Striking back whenever Marquez slipstreamed ahead on the main straight.
Marquez finally made a pass stick on the KTM with four laps to go, but the trio were still covered by just half a second at the chequered flag.
Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha), Fabio di Giannantonio (VR46), and Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini) completed the top six.
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Francesco Bagnaia dropped from fourth to eighth, behind LCR Honda’s Johann Zarco. Bezzecchi thus increases his advantage over Bagnaia for third in the world championship.
WorldSBK title runner-up Nicolo Bulega crashed from 17th place on lap 5 of his first MotoGP race. Joan Mir retired after a technical issue at the start.
Last year’s hard front and soft rear tyre combination was again the majority choice this afternoon, the only exception being a medium front for Somkiat Chantra.
Raul Fernandez suffered a partial shoulder dislocation on Friday and has withdrawn from the remainder of the weekend.
2025 Portuguese MotoGP, Portimao – Sprint Race Results
PosRiderNatTeamTime/Diff1Alex MarquezSPABK8 Gresini Ducati (GP24)19m 50.075s2Pedro AcostaSPARed Bull KTM (RC16)+0.120s3Marco BezzecchiITAAprilia Racing (RS-GP25)+0.637s4Fabio QuartararoFRAMonster Yamaha (YZR-M1)+5.276s5Fabio Di GiannantonioITAPertamina VR46 Ducati (GP25)+6.088s6Fermin AldeguerSPABK8 Gresini Ducati (GP24)*+8.864s7Johann ZarcoFRACastrol Honda LCR (RC213V)+8.886s8Francesco BagnaiaITADucati Lenovo (GP25)+8.898s9Brad BinderRSARed Bull KTM (RC16)+9.052s10Pol EspargaroSPARed Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16)+10.121s11Ai OguraJPNTrackhouse Aprilia (RS-GP25)*+10.290s12Luca MariniITAHonda HRC Castrol (RC213V)+12.016s13Enea BastianiniITARed Bull KTM Tech3 (RC16)+13.469s14Jack MillerAUSPramac Yamaha (YZR-M1)+13.900s15Franco MorbidelliITAPertamina VR46 Ducati (GP24)+14.520s16Miguel OliveiraPORPramac Yamaha (YZR-M1)+15.289s17Alex RinsSPAMonster Yamaha (YZR-M1)+22.861s18Lorenzo SavadoriITAAprilia Factory (RS-GP25)+25.456s Nicolo BulegaITADucati Lenovo (GP25)DNF Joan MirSPAHonda HRC Castrol (RC213V)DNF Somkiat ChantraTHAIdemitsu Honda LCR (RC213V)*DNF
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* Rookie
Nicolo Bulega is making his MotoGP debut, in place of injured world champion Marc Marquez at the factory Ducati team, for the remaining Portimao and Valencia rounds.
Maverick Vinales and Jorge Martin – winners of the 2024 Portimao Sprint and Grand Prix respectively – also remain on the sidelines due to injury. They are again replaced by KTM test rider Pol Espargaro and Aprilia test rider Lorenzo Savadori.
Honda will move up from D to C in the concessions ranking, alongside Aprilia and KTM, if it scores 19 more constructors’ points by the end of the season.
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