MOTOGP ROUND 21 | Portugal Deep Dive

How Bezzecchi pushed Aprilia to its best-ever year, Acosta channels The Doctor, Moreira’s Moto2 masterclass, and thoughts from all the Aussies

Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) demonstrated Malaysia was just a blip as he delivered his most commanding performance of the season and showed once again that Aprilia is continuing to gain ground on Ducati, its fierce Italian rival.

With 2025 champ Marc Marquez (Lenovo Ducati) still absent through injury, there were high hopes for this contest around the equivalent of MotoGP’s rollercoaster ride layout. Not least because Saturday delivered one of the Sprints of the season as Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM) heroically took the fight to the superior Alex Marquez (Gresini Ducati), with Bezzecchi also in the hunt.

But Bezzecchi put his stamp on this contest from the first corner. Launching from pole position, he was not once headed. With clear track ahead, he ruthlessly snuffed out all danger. And even when Alex, starting fifth on the grid, had passed Acosta for second, he made next to no impact on the Italian’s lead. Only on lap 20 of 25 did the Aprilia rider drop out of a metronomic run of laps in the 1m 38s.

In truth, it turned the race into something of a forgettable encounter. With the series breaking new ground in its 21^st race, it’s fair to say enthusiasm was somewhat lacking during the procession that followed.

But that will matter not one jot to Aprilia bosses. The success has put Aprilia within distance of its best ever MotoGP season. Bezzecchi needs two points at the final round to seal third in the championship, which would be a first for an Aprilia rider. This win also took the Noale factory’s victory tally to three for the season – another first in its premier class history.

Only in the final laps, when Alex’s front Michelin was grained and Acosta began to rally, was there a semblance of jeopardy for the podium places. Even then, the Gresini Ducati could only respond to collect a seventh Sunday second of the year.

He may have only come away with a second and third from the weekend, his tenth and 11^th podiums (Sprints included) in the past ten rounds. But once again there was so much to admire in the KTM rider’s performance – not least the tenacity he showed in Saturday’s Sprint, when his defensive riding was at times comparable to Valentino Rossi’s efforts in stemming the tide against Casey Stoner at Laguna Seca in 2008. The injured Marc aside, it’s hard to think of anyone riding as well in the world currently.

Despite starting from pole, Bezzecchi was far from the favourite going into Sunday. But Alex had noted his speed in the morning warm-up and knew his task would be tricky. From the first lap, as the Aprilia sped clear of Acosta and Alex – up and past Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) and Pecco Bagnaia (Lenovo Ducati) by Turn 1 – this had a different feeling from the previous day. At no point did Acosta look capable of landing a blow, with Bezzecchi’s lead an impressive 0.5s at the close of the lap.

There was chaos behind as Franco Morbidelli’s (VR46 Ducati) ambitious pass at Turn 5 skimmed Enea Bastianini (Tech3 KTM), which displaced his fairing and forced him into pit lane for a replacement. It also pushed Morbidelli wide, and he was collected by Pol Espargaro (Tech3 KTM), who had been pushed wide by Ai Ogura (Trackhouse Aprilia). Joan Mir (HRC Castrol) joined Bastianini in pit lane, retiring with a technical issue.

Up front, and the contest was only going one way – even as Alex took second from Acosta on the run down to Turn 1 starting lap two. Overnight changes to Bezzecchi’s RS-GP made it comfortably faster in the track’s second sector. Plus, Alex’s clear superiority through the final double right on Saturday had been blunted over the longer race distance.

“My feeling in the last sector from the first moment in the weekend was not the best one,” explained the 2025 runner-up. “I was asking too much from the front tyre, opened too much and to force too much the bike to have the speed at that point. But Marco was faster and braver than us.”

With nothing of real note happening from laps ten to 22, the podium places appeared set. That was until Acosta found some serious late-race speed, as he began taking 0.8s out of Alex per lap. His compatriot rallied to come home 2.5s back of the winner, and 0.6s clear of Acosta.

As the excitement was found wanting up front, an intriguing battle for fourth took shape. Initially Bagnaia was on course for a solid finish in what had been a less chaotic weekend than some before. After passing Quartararo on lap two, he was clear of the Yamaha rider, only to tuck the front on lap 11 to confirm a fourth Sunday DNF in succession – a first since 2019.

That left the place to Fermin Aldeguer (Gresini Ducati), who had fought through from 11th on the grid and once again showed brilliant late speed. The rookie had controversially passed Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM) for sixth at Turn 5 on the ninth circuit, and displaced the wing from his seat unit in the process, handicapping the South African from there. Still, he had enough in hand to come home two seconds ahead of Quartararo, who again showed his superiority over the other Yamahas.

Behind, Ogura enjoyed a solid ride through to seventh, a place ahead of Fabio Di Giannantonio (VR46 Ducati), who was miffed at a terrible start and shaky opening. Once again the inconsistencies of his GP25 made themselves known. Johann Zarco (LCR Honda) faded to ninth in what was Honda’s trickiest day since before the summer break. Espargaro launched a decent recovery to tenth, overcoming some demons in the process. A Practice crash at this venue in 2023 had nearly ended his career.

There was encouragement for World Superbike runner-up Nicolo Bulega, who enjoyed a commendable premier class debut in 15th, a place behind Miguel Oliveira (Pramac Yamaha), whose final home Grand Prix had started with an emotional ceremony on the grid.

Marc Marquez’s (545 points) lead is down to 100 after Alex’s (445) solid weekend, with Bezzecchi (323) now well clear of Bagnaia (288).

Pass of the weekend

Pedro Acosta, Turn 5 during the Sprint. The Spaniard knew he had to stay ahead of Alex before they got to the final corner, where Ducati’s superior traction told. How he managed two moves on a clearly inferior machine was awesome to watch.

Dud of the weekend

Franco Morbidelli. In a weekend when the other Ducati GP24 riders finished second and fourth, the Italian was anonymous once again, placing 15^th in the Sprint. Then there was that slightly reckless early move at Turn 5…

2025 MOTOGP WORLD STANDINGS

Moto2 – Moreira marches on

Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Kalex) took a huge step toward taking the Moto2 World Championship with a perfectly timed victory to stretch his lead out to 24 points. Only a disaster can stop him from here.

Outside the top ten on Friday, the Brazilian coolly took pole position on Saturday while chief contender Manuel Gonzalez (IntactGP Kalex) was eighth after catching an inopportune yellow flag.

Moreira initially got the jump but looked tentative out front, as Collin Veijer (Ajo Kalex), Jake Dixon (Marc VDS Boscoscuro), David Alonso (Aspar Kalex), Celestino Vietti (SpeedRS Boscoscuro) and Gonzalez queued up behind. Surprisingly, Viejer took control on lap four before stretching his lead out to 0.7s by lap 12 as Moreira relaxed behind.

Aron Canet (Fantic Kalex) replaced Dixon, Gonzalez and Vietti up front. And as the laps ticked by, the lead quartet gradually closed together. Veijer began to fade late on. Sensing blood, Moreira moved by at Turn 10 with three to go. And despite Veijer and Alonso rallying behind, he held on for the most critical win of his career. Just 0.5s covered the podium.

Canet was fourth, with Barry Baltus (Fantic Kalex) fighting through to fifth and Gonzalez a desperately disappointing sixth. Only a miracle will save him from here.

The possible title contenders are whittled down from five to two. Only Gonzalez (257) can stop Moreira (281) before season’s end.

2025 Moto2 World Standings

Moto3 – Kelso’s Gamble, Quiles’ Glory

During the race’s first half, this appeared to be Joel Kelso’s (MTA KTM) big chance. The Australian took the third pole position of his career on Saturday and went all-in from the start in an attempt to claim a maiden Moto3 victory. Having built up a decent lead, his chances were enhanced when Maximo Quiles (Aspar KTM) had a huge moment through the final turn on lap three.

But Kelso’s decision to run Pirelli’s soft front tyre soon backfired. By mid-race distance it was clear he had nothing to keep the chasing pack behind as he ran wide at Turn 5 on lap ten. From there he was swallowed up, with Quiles, Angel Piqueras (MSI KTM), Alvaro Carpe (Ajo KTM) and Taiyo Furusato (HTA Honda) soon getting through.

Piqueras had the pace to win, but was pushed wide and back to sixth on lap 13. Crucially, Quiles hit the front at the same time, and started gapping Furusato behind. Once Piqueras had recovered to second with two laps remaining, his rookie compatriot was 1.6s clear and claimed a convincing third win of the year.

Furusato was third with Joel Esteban (Tech3 KTM) a fine fourth as he substituted for the injured Jacob Roulstone, with Carpe fifth and Irishman Casey O’Gorman (IntactGP KTM) – filling in for the injured David Muñoz – a brilliant sixth in just his third appearance.

Jose Antonio Rueda (365 points) is home and dry and Piqueras (271) is on the defensive from the advancing Quiles (263), just eight points behind.

2025 Moto3 World Standings

THE AUSSIES

Jack Miller (Sprint: 14^th, Result: 12^th)
A tough weekend for Jack and Yamaha as a chronic lack of rear grip hurt his attempts from a strong qualifying of eighth. “I tried to stay involved in the fight. But I was suffering on the exit of Turns 6, 14 and 15 and when the tyre dropped, that got harder to do. But I was only catching up what I was giving away in those two accelerations. The bike was pumping like mad – it was a handful. It was a combination of electronics, engine and mechanical grip. The Yamaha engine seems super-smooth but it’s spiky – you get these big peaks. Those things are all working against each other. When you’re missing that inertia, this is what happens. Not happy but we brought it home and we’ll try again in Valencia.”

Senna Agius (Result: 9^th)
A solid recovery. Senna was unable to translate solid Friday rhythm into a decent qualifying (14^th). And a tricky start further complicated matters as he found himself stuck around those positions in the first six laps. But once he settled, Agius started moving forward. “It wasn’t a bad race, even though I didn’t get off to the best start and the first lap didn’t go perfectly. In the last three laps, I overtook some good riders and made it into the top ten. So, let’s take the positives, because we have a strong race pace. Right now the focus is on being faster in the early stages, qualifying better, and getting a better start to the race.”

Joel Kelso (Result: 7^th)
This looked promising as Kelso took his third career pole on Saturday before leading the first ten laps. But his soft front tyre choice backfired when his grip went down. “I chose the soft front tyre and it was just eaten away toward the end. It’s a tricky one because I tried the harder option on Friday. But I couldn’t get it to work for me. We saw some tyre wear when I did an eight-lap stint on the softer one. I thought, ‘It’s not too bad.’ But the right side was destroyed mid-race. I couldn’t enter with the brake into mid-corner. The faster corners were a disaster. We’re still in the hunt for fourth in the championship. It was a positive weekend.”

Cormac Buchanan (Result: 20^th)
A tricky weekend for the Kiwi. As well as qualifying back in 24^th he endured three crashes which took his tally to 34 for the year. From there, it was about bringing it home. “It wasn’t the weekend we were after. I had a really strong preseason test here and was fast in other championships. I saw this as an opportunity to fight at the front. But it didn’t pan out like that. The crash in FP1 didn’t help. I was on the back foot from there. I went into qualifying with only 12 dry laps and I struggled for pace. In the race I just didn’t feel good from lap one. I didn’t have any feeling and couldn’t push hard – otherwise I’d end up on the ground. It was just a race to finish. I’m quite upset about it.”