Quartararo finally kickstarts his title defence
MOTOGP ALGARVE (PRT) 24 APRIL ROUND 5/21
The 2022 Motogp season took another twist at the Portuguese Grand Prix when a fourth different winner in five races was crowned. But this one felt altogether more expected – and, in some ways, needed.
Fabio Quartararo’s form in last year’s Portuguese GP sent him well on the way to the 2021 world title. But the Algarve International Circuit was a venue he felt ahead of time was “fifty-fifty” for Yamaha in terms of how competitive it could be around the Iberian coast’s rollercoaster. All of the races so far have hinged on two things for Yamaha to excel: the amount of grip on offer at a track, and how the first lap goes. If the grip was lower and Quartararo got jumped by some faster bikes, his afternoon would get much harder. But if he could nail the start and have enough grip to really make the most of the strong points of the M1, he would be in the ball game.
Unfortunately, both of those things would only come to light at 1300 last Sunday. The weekend was a washout through to Q2, with Sunday’s 20-minute warm-up the only dry track time on offer where set-ups for the race could be fettled.
By Turn 1, it was clear that Quartararo had both things he needed. From fifth he was up to second, with only 2020 champion Joan Mir in front of him.
Mir was the favourite for many, the Suzuki rider quick all weekend and scoring his best-ever qualifying result of second, plus he’d put on a podium display in November’s Algarve GP at the same venue last year. But, after streaking 0.6 seconds clear by the end of lap one, it became clear to the Spaniard that his medium-compound front tyre wasn’t the option he needed to provide the best support on the front end – a consequence of the lack of dry track time through the weekend.
Quartararo made his move into Turn 1 on lap four, and Mir later slipped further behind, losing second to the Pramac Ducati of poleman Johann Zarco on lap 17 of 25 before he was wiped out of third by Ducati’s Jack Miller at Turn 1 two laps later.
Had Mir been in better shape, it’s still doubtful that he could have challenged Quartararo. The Frenchman put on full display the speed and talent that brought him last year’s world championship, and he never looked like being caught, taking the flag 5.4s clear.
Quartararo had scored just one podium from the first four races and no other top-six finishes. So a return to winning ways for the first time since last August’s Silverstone contest was a “special” moment in which he struggled to suppress his emotions. It’s well-timed too. Not only does it thrust him into the lead of the championship, but it comes in the middle of a negotiating battle with Yamaha over his future that Quartararo is now winning.
With Le Mans coming up next month, a second place for Zarco will get a few more punters through the door, while Aleix Espargaro benefited from the Miller/mir shunt to claim his second podium of the year on the Aprilia in third.
A rider of the day vote would surely have put Alex Rins in first place, the Suzuki man blasting through from 23rd on the grid after a strategy blunder in a wet qualifying Q1 session to finish an incredible fourth. Level on points with Quartararo and now second in the standings, the Rins of 2021 who crashed too often is a reformed rider well on his way to a title tilt.
The same can’t be said of Marc Marquez. Still “not in my special moment”, the six-time world champion is struggling to adapt to the 2022 Honda, and sixth in Portugal was all he could muster behind home hero Miguel Oliveira on the KTM. When that ‘special moment’ arrives is still an unknown. He beat his brother Alex by 0.020s, with Pol Espargaro ninth. But after such a strong start to 2022, Honda seems all at sea and without wind in its sails with its new bike.
A heavy qualifying crash left 2021 Algarve winner Francesco Bagnaia last on the grid, but he enjoyed a strong run to eighth after finding an “incredible” feeling on his Ducati. With Quartararo’s title charge now kicking on, his expected foe must follow suit soon.