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Repsol Honda Team collect more points in Portugal

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Moto GP 2022, Round 5, Grande Premio de Portugal

Portugal, April 24, 2022:  A pair of safe finishes for the Repsol Honda Team in at the Portuguese Grand Prix brought with them solid points as Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro crossed the line in sixth and ninth respectively and closed the gap to the championship lead.

Sunday in Portimao started with perhaps the most important session of the weekend, the dry Warm Up the first real chance for the Repsol Honda Team to gather good data in the dry after two days of rain. Both Marc Marquez and Pol Espargaro spent the entirety of the session on track to maximise the information gained. A late lap saw Marquez end the morning in third with Espargaro further down the timesheet in 14th.

Marc Marquez put together a safe Grand Prix in Portimao, crossing the line in sixth place after a close battle with LCR Honda rider Alex Marquez which saw the pair battle to the finish line. Starting in ninth place, Marquez was able to hold position inside the group as the field filtered through the tight opening sector of the track. Settling into tenth place as the first lap came to a close, the eight-time World Champion made steady progress over the following laps and passed his teammate after a brief but intense battle with 19 laps to go. Falls ahead saw Marquez promoted two positions before he ultimately fought for sixth place against Alex Marquez, the pair’s battle going right to the finish.

After the race, Marquez heads to Jerez 11th in the World Championship standings with 31 points – now 38 points behind new World Championship leader and race-winner Fabio Quartararo.

For Pol Espargaro it was another lightning start to proceedings as the lights went out, the #44 making up a number of places with the acceleration of the Honda RC213V. From inside the top ten, Espargaro had a defensive race as he fended off the likes of Martin and Binder. Like his teammate, Espargaro was able to benefit from falls ahead and was promoted two positions in the final laps of the race. A close battle on the closing lap with Francesco Bagnaia saw Espargaro just miss out on eighth place by 0.258s.

Although the result was not what Espargaro had been aiming for, he loses just a single point to the World Championship leader and sits 12th overall with 30 points.

The Repsol Honda Team will now head immediately to Jerez de la Frontera for round six of the MotoGP World Championship. Improving results on both sides of the Repsol Honda Team garage is the only objective for the weekend. 

Marc Marquez (6th)

“It’s not the result we want or want to be fighting for but today we did not have the feeling. Already in Warm Up I was not feeling how I wanted, and we made a small change for the race which helped a bit but the speed of our rivals was more than we had. We were there fighting with Pol in the start of the race and then Alex in the second half, it was an all-Honda battle really. Within this battle we were able to come out on top which was a positive but it’s true this is not where we should be. We need to be faster, in Jerez it’s time to be faster and finish closer to the front.”

 Pol Espargaro (9th)

“We are not satisfied with how the race went; we did not have the speed today. It’s time to understand more why this situation is happening because during the pre-season we were strong. Jerez is a good place to turn this situation around and I am pleased we can go there straight away to keep working. Already there are some ideas to change the situation in Jerez so I hope the weather will be good there. We must keep working, we must work harder than our rivals to overcome these problems. Fortunately, we have amazing engineers in Japan and a great team here at the track to work with.”

 Portuguese Grand Prix Race Results-Round 5

 

Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 QUARTARARO FABIO 20 FRA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 41’39.611
2 ZARCO JOHANN 5 FRA Pramac Racing Ducati 5.409
3 ESPARGARO ALEIX 41 SPA Aprilia Racing Aprilia 6.068
4 RINS ALEX 42 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 9.633
5 OLIVEIRA MIGUEL 88 POR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 13.573
6 MARQUEZ MARC 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 16.163
7 MARQUEZ ALEX 73 SPA LCR Honda Honda 16.183
8 BAGNAIA FRANCESCO 62 ITA Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati 16.511
9 ESPARGARO POL 44 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 16.769
10 VINALES MAVERICK 12 SPA Aprilia Racing Aprilia 18.063
11 DOVIZIOSO ANDREA 4 ITA WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha 29.029
12 MARINI LUCA 10 ITA Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 29.249
13 MORBIDELLI FRANCO 21 ITA Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 33.354
14 GARDNER REMY 87 AUS Tech 3 KTM Factory Racing KTM 40.205
15 BEZZECCHI MARCO 73 ITA Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati 46.052
16 NAKAGAMI TAKAAKI 30 JPN LCR Honda Honda 49.569
17 BINDER DARRYN 40 RSA WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha 50.303
18 SAVADORI LORENZO 32 ITA Aprilia Racing Test Team Aprilia DNF
19 DI GIANNANTONIO FABIO 49 ITA Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati DNF
20 MIR JOAN 36 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki DNF
21 MILLER JACK 43 AUS Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati DNF
22 BINDER BRAD 33 RSA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM DNF
23 BASTIANINI ENEA 23 ITA Team Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati DNF
24 MARTIN JORGE 89 SPA Pramac Racing Ducati DNF

Rider Standings 

Pos Rider Num Nation Points Team Constructor
1 ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA 45 Aprilia Racing Aprilia
1 QUARTARARO Fabio 20 FRA 69 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha
2 RINS Alex 42 SPA 69 Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki
3 ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA 66 Aprilia Racing Aprilia
4 BASTIANINI Enea 23 ITA 61 Team Gresini Racing MotoGP

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