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Sprint Race
Follow the Portugal Grand Prix live. This MotoGP race starts at 15:00 on 23 March 2024. Find race results, calendar, standings, scores and all of this season’s MotoGP races.
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Highlights
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BYE FOR NOW!
That's it for our live text coverage of the Portuguese GP Sprint - thank you for your company. The Grand Prix race is coming up tomorrow and it's lights out at 2pm GMT. See you then!
VINALES POST-RACE
'Today feels good, I'm happy to be back on the top positions. I know Qatar wasn't our level, I had some issues with the setting. But here, we are showing that we are finding the way. I'm happy about how things are going and very concentrated on tomorrow, but we will enjoy today. It's my first win with Aprilia, so we'll enjoy it of course.'
MARQUEZ POST-RACE
'After the qualifying practice, we knew it would be difficult because starting in eighth position is super difficult and the race tomorrow will be even more difficult. But I made a mistake in the qualifying practice that I [could have avoided] because I engaged the rear device too early and then the bike was sitting and I crashed. But the team did a really great job to repair the bike and in the race I was super lucky on the first lap to have a good start. And then I worked the front tyre, I relaxed a bit, and then I came back on the last lap to attack. Tomorrow with the medium rear will be different.'
MARTIN POST-RACE
'It was a difficult race. I started really bad and then I was trying to be competitive, but I had some issues with the rear ... also the front went super, super high. But yeah, I did my best and hopefully we can improve for tomorrow.'
VINALES WINS SPRINT IN PORTUGAL
Vinales brings P1 home and wins the Sprint in Portimao. M Marquez defends second from Martin.
MARQUEZ INTO SECOND
M Marquez retaliates on Martin with an aggressive barge down the inside at Turn 5 to go past.
ADVANTAGE VINALES
The Aprilia rider has around six tenths of an advantage going onto the last lap. Looks like he has this covered.
TOO HOT FROM MARTIN
Martin is in a bit too hot and runs slightly wide. That drops him into the clutches of M Marquez.
MARTIN PATIENT FOR NOW
Martin is sitting within punching distance but no real chance has materialised yet.
TWO HORSE RACE FOR THE WIN
This is going down between Vinales and Martin, nothing separating them on track. M Marquez is half a second behind the duo and holds almost two seconds of a cushion over Bagnaia.
BAGNAIA OFF TRACK
Bagnaia's Ducati snaps sideways at Turn 1 and he goes well wide. He drops down into fourth and Vinales inherits the lead.
FASTEST LAP MARTIN
Martin sets the fastest lap of the race by quite some margin. There's nothing separating him from Vinales. In turn, Bagnaia's gap at the front is sitting constant at just under a second.
ONE SECOND GAP AT THE FRONT
Bagnaia holds just under a second over his chasers. Vinales is leading the charge with Martin just behind him. M Marquez follows in fourth with Miller just about hanging on to the group.
MARTIN INTO THIRD
Martin barges his way past M Marquez into third. Vinales is around half a second ahead.
MASSIVE MOMENT FOR MARQUEZ
That could have been it for M Marquez, but he just about manages to keep his Ducati on the tarmac. He does drop behind Vinales though.
That creates some welcome breathing space for Bagnaia who had M Marquez catching him.
BINDER OUT
The race is over for Binder who crashes out at Turn 13.
MILLER DROPS
Miller looks to be lacking pace here as Vinales goes past him.
MARQUEZ INTO SECOND
Bagnaia is trying to escape at the front, but behind, M Marquez is past Miller to try hunt down the factory Ducati.
BAGNAIA TAKES THE LEAD
Going into T15, Bagnaia sees a gap and goes for it. Going onto start/finish from there, he has the Ducati horsepower advantage and pulls away from Miller.
MARQUEZ INTO THIRD
Some aggression there from M Marquez who dives down Vinales' inside and finds a way past into third.
STANDINGS AFTER OPENING LAP
VINALES TAKES HOLESHOT AT LIGHTS OUT, MILLER SOON LEADS
Bastianini has a horrible start from pole and Vinales steals the holeshot into Turn 1. Miller had the best getaway though and takes the lead with Bagnaia following in second.
WARM UP LAP
The riders are out on track for their warm up lap. Only moments to lights out!
WEATHER REPORT & TYRE NEWS
It's ideal racing conditions in Portimao with warm temperatures and no threat of rain.
The popular tyre option is a hard/soft combination with almost all riders making that compound choice. The exceptions are Fabio Quartararo on medium/medium, Alex Rins on medium/soft, and Takaaki Nakagami on medium/soft.
OLIVEIRA HOPING TO MAKE STRIDES AT HOME
Miguel Oliveira didn't have the most striking start to the season as he continues to get to grips with the new Aprilia. However, the Portuguese rider is hoping to step things up at his home track. 'To come from an average result - like my race in Qatar - and say "I'm ready to challenge for the victory," maybe is a little bit too ambitious,' he said.
'But I know exactly what I'm capable of doing. Nowadays, MotoGP is very particular; you can be fom 12th to first in just a split of a second, so everything is possible. I don't want to create myself any limitations, but also I don't want to create too much expectation. I'm still adapting to the bike, but I feel we are making steps in a good direction and hopefully, this weekend we can show that we have the speed to be in the top 10.'
BINDER KEEN TO KEEP MOMENTUM GOING
Brad Binder and KTM had an excellent start to the season with a double podium in Qatar. Going into the Portuguese GP, the South African is keen to make further steps forward: 'Coming here, it's really exciting because it was really here last year that we started to find our bearings. If we have a look at what we ran here last year and how we finished the season, it's two worlds apart,' he said.
'I'm really keen to go out and see where our base is, how everything works. And this track is insane - it's so up and down and flowing in some places, super stop-and-go in others. I think our bike can be really strong here.'
CHAMPIONSHIP LEADER BAGNAIA 'QUITE CONFIDENT'
Title defender Francesco Bagnaia left the first Grand Prix of the season with the points lead and is keen to keep the run going in Portimao: 'I love this track, it's one of my favourites - I love the uphill and downhill,' he said. 'I'm quite confident because I think with the 2024 bike we can be more competitive in some areas of the track.'
BASTIANINI LEADS THE PACK
Enea Bastianini showed great pace in the practice sessions and converted his form into pole position as well. 'After a long time without a pole position, this is special today,' he said in parc ferme post Q2.
'I'm happy because from yesterday we have improved and today we were positive to do a great qualifying and we arrived at pole position. It's only the first step though because today we also have the Sprint, but we are happy.'
WHAT HAPPENED IN QUALIFYING
Ducati's Enea Bastianini claimed the second pole position of his MotoGP career and his first with the factory Ducati team. The Italian produced a brilliant lap of 1:37.706 to pip Aprilia's Maverick Vinales, who finished less than a tenth behind in second. Jorge Martin completes the front row.
Read all about it:
HELLO AND WELCOME
Hello and welcome to our live text coverage of the Portuguese Grand Prix Sprint. The MotoGP paddock has arrived at the rollercoaster track of Portimao for the second stop of the 2024 championship. It's been a slow start to the weekend with tricky track conditions on Friday, but things have picked up speed from there, figuratively and literally.
Enea Bastianini was fastest in practice and converted it into pole position - can he keep that run going in the Sprint? Championship leader Francesco Bagnaia and Sprint king Jorge Martin will certainly want to have a say in that.
Portuguese Grand Prix Sprint Live - Bastianini starts from pole as Bagnaia seeks to extend championship lead