Fabio Quartararo wins crash-fest Portuguese GP

By sep, 19 April 2021

Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Fabio Quartararo took home his first back-to-back win for the 2021 season after finishing the Portuguese GP in first place yesterday. It was definitely a round filled with drama all weekend long, and Sunday's main event was not short of action thanks to some falls from a number of high-profile riders.

At the start of the race, it was the championship leader, Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati) who was battling for the top spot against Suzuki Ecstar's Alex Rins. Factory Ducati rider, Jack Miller, and Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda) also got a good start, but Quartararo was quick to gain a few spots and was in P3 by the third lap.

Lap 6 was the start of all the drama, starting with Jack Miller, followed by hometown hero, Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing), Valentino Rossi (Petronas Yamaha SRT), Alex Rins (Suzuki Ecstar), and Johann Zarco. By the end of the race, Francesco Bagnaia bagged P2 after starting the race from P11, and P3 went to Suzuki's Joan Mir.

In terms of the 2021 championship leaderboard, Fabio Quartararo now sits at the very top with 61 points, followed by Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia with 46 points, and Maverick Vinales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) with 41 points. Zarco dropped to P4 with his 40 points collected in the first two opening races in Qatar.

The MotoGP grid will pack things up and start making their way to Jerez, Spain for the Gran Premio Red Bull de Espana, which is set to take place from 30 April to 2 May 2021. Looking at how Quartararo dominated the track last season (twice), he'll definitely have a huge advantage going into the next round.

Image source: MotoGP