Sam Lowes on the ground after his crash in Turn 1 – immediately after the start the race was over for the Englishman and in the end he lost the championship lead. It was a highsider after applying the rear brake too hard, as could be seen in the recording afterwards.

Review of the Moto2 and Moto3 races in Portimão

While in Moto3, after the scandalous result of the second round in Losail, not a driver who started out of the pit lane won this time, the Grand Prix of the middle class was strange in many ways. With Sam Lowes one is quite used to the fact that he occasionally ends up in the gravel bed. But the way he said goodbye to the race at Turn 1 was not only disappointing for him, but also for his fans. However, you have to keep in mind with your strange highsider that the drivers have to react correctly in a split second and are under enormous pressure in the process. Seen in this way, his crash was probably just bad luck and for once not the result of too much risk. This time there were a lot of falls in all classes at the Grand Prix of Portugal and hopefully this will not continue in Jerez de la Frontera two weeks later. For details on the training sessions and races, see our daily reports, which we offer live during the day in English and German and are constantly updated.

The chasing group on top of the Moto3 race in Portugal – with the number 6 Ryusei Yamanaka and behind with the 50 his CarXpert PruestelGP teammate Jason Dupasquier. In between Filip Salac (Rivacold Snipers Team, No. 12) and Andi Farid Izdihar from Honda Team Asia.
Xavi Vierge (Petronas Sprinta Racing) in the fight with Augusto Fernandez (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) – the teammate of Sam Lowes from 2019 in front of the current teammate of the Englishman. In the end, Fernandez was ahead of the game.

Wayne Gardner’s grandiose son
We had already reported as the first page 10 days before official confirmation that the Australian had his MotoGP contract under his belt before the Portuguese Grand Prix. This is precisely why the son of the 500 cc world champion from 1987 (on a Honda) drives so relaxed and easy-going, since there is no pressure whatsoever with regard to his future. It has long been clear that at least Iker Lecuona will lose his place at Tech 3, but Danilo Petrucci’s chair is also shaking tremendously. In contrast to the MotoGP team from Red Bull KTM, the Ajo Moto2 and Moto3 team competing with Kalex suspensions more than impressively shows the way to success. The drivers of Aki Ajo, who is sometimes wrongly seen as a somewhat sinister fellow, are currently the absolute favorites for the next races. The Finn will definitely have to do without Remy Gardner next year.

Remy Gardner (Red Bull Ajo) in front of Marco Bezzecchi (Sky Racing VR46), Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) and Xavi Vierge (Petronas Sprinta Racing) – Last year’s winner only made it to the podium by a very thin margin, but is going to Jerez de la Frontera as World Championship leader.

Result of the Moto2 race in Portimão

Joe Roberts was very unlucky to lose the third place he believed to be safe to Remy Gardner. But the American had survived two threatening slides in the right-hand bend shortly before the start-finish, which allowed the Australian to pass him inside. There were clear tire marks on the leather of Roberts’ right arm when he got back into the pits, but despite missing the podium he was grinning all over his face again. With the strongest finish, rookie Raul Fernandez was the outstanding man of the race, but Aron Canet, like Bezzecchi and Roberts, was also one of the defining figures. While Tom Lüthi failed again, especially Hector Garzo and Cameron Beaubier together with Augusto Fernandez and Xavi Vierge were able to convince.

Somkiat Chantra (sitting on the floor) with Ai Ogura after their joint fall in prayer – the Thai drove on afterwards, but was only second to last. In the end, both Honda Team Asia team-mates were not satisfied.

Moto2 World Championship stand in detail
In one fell swoop, the double winner from Losail lost his World Championship lead through third place to Remy Gardner. Sam Lowes is only 6 points behind the Australian and the season is still long. It would also be a mistake to write off Marco Bezzecchi too early, especially if you look closely at the last season of the Rossi protégé. So far, the Italian fourth place in the World Cup last year made hardly any mistakes and that’s the only reason he missed the Moto2 title in 2020. With P10, Marcel Schrötter also got away more than lightly despite a rather bad starting position with row 7 on the grid. In contrast to his teammate Tom Lüthi from last year, Bayern has not yet left the train to make it even further forward.

World Championship fourth Marco Bezzecchi from the Sky Racing VR46 team – he has to be included in the Moto2 title decision this season as well, although the Italian has never been on the podium before.

Result of the Moto3 Grand Prix of Portugal

This time the many sinners with their penalties did not become winners, as in the case of Pedro Acosta in the second race of Losail. At that time, the KTM rookie won out of the pit lane, which for many viewers may not be in the spirit of the sport. Fortunately, one could speak of a “clean” result in terms of the result of the third World Championship round of the season. After a good first two days, Deniz Öncü was only fifteenth, which, like some of his colleagues, he owes to a punishment. Some of our readers found it interesting that in Moto3 riders were sometimes punished for behavior that Marc Marquez had already demonstrated on his comeback in MotoGP. However, to the misunderstanding of many, this remained without any sanctions.

During the course of the racing weekend, the live blog of every day remains on our site, which can also be called up later under the tab “2021”, for all those who would like to see the most important events of the three days again later.

Moto3 World Championship stand in detail
In addition to world championship leader Pedro Acosta, his teammate Masia and Antonelli, Rodrigo, Fenati, Yamanaka and Dupasquier were the only drivers with points in all 3 races so far. Despite the uncertain calendar, the season is likely to be long and consistency is therefore extremely important. It is therefore also important not to injure yourself and not to take unnecessary risks. It is likely that a large group will fight for the last meter in Jerez again until the checkered flag. This is why there is no room for restraint and nowhere is the line between victory and 15th place as narrow as in Moto3.

We photographed the deserted main entrance of the Autodromo do Algarve on site – to the chagrin of many fans, the second Portugal Grand Prix was also a ghost race. But as in the previous year in Jerez, you saw some “suspicious figures” who took snapshots on the grid. It’s hard to imagine how much they had to pay to cheat their way into the grid.

World Championship stand after 3 rounds in all classes

Nobody would have thought before the opening race that John McPhee would still be without championship points. In contrast to the failures in the first double race in Qatar, he was responsible for the fact that he missed out in Portugal. The same applies of course to those who fell through their own fault in Portugal, such as Jaume Masia, Kaito Toba, Xavi Artigas and the former World Championship leader Sam Lowes in Moto2. In the end, Masia was the only one of the drivers named to be able to save himself into the points. Nevertheless, he lost an enormous number of points to the Championship leader.

Below is the world championship stand of all 3 classes at a glance
At a glance, here is the status with numerous surprising findings after the first three rounds of the season. Many of the supposed top favorites are far behind and in MotoGP there are now also the first tendencies which manufacturers are in danger of failing. It will be incredibly exciting again in Jerez, where the drivers, who are currently still in a very bad position, will get a new and maybe soon their last chance in the fourth lap.

Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing Honda) in front of Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team Honda) on the prominent crest after Turn 8 – in the end the rookie with the number 37 was ahead and is lonely at the top of the Moto3 World Championship interim ranking.

Unless otherwise stated, this applies to all images (© MotoGP).