In the first race of the MotoGP World Championship, the Grand Prix taking place in Qatar was won by two-time champion Italian rider Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), and Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) finished fifteenth.

The winner was 20.717 seconds behind the Portuguese rider from the Trackhouse team, followed by the South African Brad Binder (KTM) in second place, 1.329 seconds behind, and the Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati) in third place, 1.933 seconds behind.

Race management had to reduce the race to 21 laps when Raúl Fernández (Aprilia), a Spaniard and Miguel Oliveira's teammate, experienced a mechanical issue that delayed the start. Starting from the bottom of the grid, Fernández had to swap out his bike for the spare, which caused a 12-minute delay in the race.

Starting from fifth position, Francesco Bagnaia took the lead halfway through the first lap and maintained a pace that protected him from challenges by his competitors.

Due to an incident that occurred at this very circuit in Lusail last season, Miguel Oliveira had to serve a lengthy penalty. The rider, who was born in Almada, fell to 19th place but steadily gained ground to come in at 15th, earning him his first championship point.

Brad Binder managed to hold onto second place at the end of the race, despite an attempt by pole-sitter Jorge Martín.

Fourth, 3.429 seconds behind the winner, was Spanish rider Marc Márquez (Ducati), who made his debut for the private Gresini team this weekend.

Another standout performance came from Pedro Acosta (GasGas), a rookie from Spain who finished ninth despite starting the race sixth and eventually wearing out his tyres.

Francesco Bagnaia is leading the championship with 31 points after Sunday's results, two ahead of South African Brad Binder and three ahead of Jorge Martín. Points-wise, Miguel Oliveira is ranked where he finished fifteenth.

The Portuguese Grand Prix will take place at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve (AIA) in Portimão on March 22–24.

Author

A passionate Irish journalist with a love for cycling, politics and of course Portugal especially their sausage rolls.

Rory Mc Ginn