Mir collects valuable experience as Marquez apologises for his mistake 26.03.2023: Grande Premio de Portugal MotoGP 2023 Round 1 A dramatic first Grand Prix weekend of the year concluded with Joan Mir recovering to 11th place. An apologetic Marc Marquez was left to lament his mistake which took out home hero Miguel Oliveira.

 Grande Premio de Portugal
MotoGP 2023   Round 1



A dramatic first Grand Prix weekend of the year concluded with Joan Mir recovering to 11th place. An apologetic Marc Marquez was left to lament his mistake which took out home hero Miguel Oliveira.


Joan Mir approached Sunday’s 25-lap Portuguese Grand Prix with an open mind, aiming to gather as much data as possible after his efforts on Saturday were cut short. A solid start saw the #36 maintain his grid position as the field settled into their early rhythm in Portugal.



After serving his long-lap penalty for his contact with Quartararo the day before, Mir rejoined in 15th and was able to progress through the field to finally cross the line in 11th.


His first points as a Repsol Honda Team rider, Mir is satisfied with the information he and the team were able to gather as there are now clear areas to work on in the coming races.



From pole position, Marc Marquez did his best to stay with the front group. Unfortunately at the start of the third lap, Marquez made a mistake and locked the front – releasing the brakes to avoid contact with Jorge Martin. This resulted in Marquez colliding with Miguel Oliveira, ending both of their races. Marquez immediately apologised to the RNF Team before heading to the medical centre to check the condition of Oliveira and his own injuries.


Marquez was diagnosed with a potential fracture in the first metacarpal of the right hand and will travel to Spain to assess the injury further. He also received a double long-lap penalty for the Argentina GP.


The MotoGP World Championship will now head directly for Termas de Rio Hondo for the second round of the 2023 season.   
    


       
Joan Mir  36
11TH  


“The crash from yesterday impacted today a lot, not just because of the long lap penalty. If I was able to finish the Sprint race I would have had a lot more understanding of the bike because today’s race was the first time I was able to do more than ten laps in a row on the Honda.



This meant I spent a lot of today learning, so from this side today was a positive because I understood more. I still need more time to improve how I am riding and how the bike is behaving, especially to get the most out of the tyre over the race. With a bit more knowledge we could have made a very good race, but I am happy to have the experience now.”         

    
       
    
Marc Marquez  93
DNF

 
“First of all I want to say that I am very sorry to Oliveira, his team and the Portuguese fans because it was his race. I did a really big mistake today, of course it was not my intention to have this happen, my intention was not even to overtake Martin at that point, but I had a massive lock with the front. Maybe the hard front was not fully up to temperature, I released the brakes and the bike went inside.


I avoided Martin but made contact with Oliveira. I straight away went over to Miguel and then in the medical centre I went to check on him – fortunately it looks like he is OK and this is the most important thing.



On my side I have some pain in my right hand and with my knee but this is not so important at the minute. I fully accept and respect the penalty of the double long-lap during the Argentina GP because I did a mistake.”         

    
       
Portuguese Grand Prix Results


1    BAGNAIA Francesco     1    ITA    25     Ducati Lenovo Team    Ducati    41'25.401
2    VINALES Maverick     12    SPA    20     Aprilia Racing    Aprilia    0.687
3    BEZZECCHI Marco     72    ITA    16     Mooney VR46 Racing Team    Ducati    2.726
4    ZARCO Johann     5    FRA    13     Pramac Racing    Ducati    8.060
5    MARQUEZ Alex     73    SPA    11     Team Gresini Racing MotoGP    Ducati    8.125
6    BINDER Brad     33    RSA    10     Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    8.247
7    MILLER Jack     43    AUS    9     Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM    8.381
8    QUARTARARO Fabio     20    FRA    8     Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP    Yamaha    8.543
9    ESPARGARO Aleix     41    SPA    7     Aprilia Racing    Aprilia    9.294
10    RINS Alex     42    SPA    6     LCR Honda    Honda    11.591
11    MIR Joan     36    SPA    5     Repsol Honda Team    Honda    16.992
12    NAKAGAMI Takaaki     30    JPN    4     LCR Honda    Honda    17.448
13    FERNANDEZ Augusto     37    SPA    3     Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing    KTM    21.723
14    MORBIDELLI Franco     21    ITA    2     Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP    Yamaha    27.050
15    FERNANDEZ Raul     25    SPA    DNF     RNF MotoGP Team    Aprilia    DNF
16    MARINI Luca     10    ITA    DNF     Mooney VR46 Racing Team    Ducati    DNF
17    MARTIN Jorge     89    SPA    DNF     Pramac Racing    Ducati    DNF
18    DI GIANNANTONIO Fabio     49    ITA    DNF     Team Gresini Racing MotoGP    Ducati    DNF
19    MARQUEZ Marc     93    SPA    DNF     Repsol Honda Team    Honda    DNF
20    OLIVEIRA Miguel     88    POR    DNF     RNF MotoGP Team    Aprilia    DNF
    
    
       
    
Rider Standings

1    BAGNAIA Francesco     1     ITA     37     Ducati Lenovo Team    Ducati
2    VINALES Maverick     12     SPA     25     Aprilia Racing    Aprilia
3    BEZZECCHI Marco     72     ITA     16     Mooney VR46 Racing Team    Ducati
4    ZARCO Johann     5     FRA     15     Pramac Racing    Ducati
5    MILLER Jack     43     AUS     15     Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM
6    MARQUEZ Alex     73     SPA     12     Team Gresini Racing MotoGP    Ducati
7    ESPARGARO Aleix     41     SPA     11     Aprilia Racing    Aprilia
8    BINDER Brad     33     RSA     10     Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    KTM
9    MARTIN Jorge     89     SPA     9     Pramac Racing    Ducati
10    QUARTARARO Fabio     20     FRA     8     Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP    Yamaha
11    MARQUEZ Marc     93     SPA     7     Repsol Honda Team    Honda
12    RINS Alex     42     SPA     6     LCR Honda    Honda
13    MIR Joan     36     SPA     5     Repsol Honda Team    Honda
14    NAKAGAMI Takaaki     30     JPN     4     LCR Honda    Honda
15    OLIVEIRA Miguel     88     POR     3     RNF MotoGP Team    Aprilia
16    FERNANDEZ Augusto     37     SPA     3     Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing    KTM
17    MORBIDELLI Franco     21     ITA     2     Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP    Yamaha
    
    
       
    
Team Standings

1    Ducati Lenovo Team    37
2    Aprilia Racing    36
3    Red Bull KTM Factory Racing    25
4    Pramac Racing    24
5    Mooney VR46 Racing Team    16
6    Repsol Honda Team    12
7    Team Gresini Racing MotoGP    12
8    Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP    10
9    LCR Honda    10
10    RNF MotoGP Team    3
11    Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing    3



    
Constructor Standings

1    Ducati    37
2    Aprilia    25
3    KTM    16
4    Honda    13
5    Yamaha    8
    

    
       



    


 Repsol Honda Team - MotoGP, also photos