The Red Bull KTM Tech3 MotoGP™ completed round 21 out of 22 on Sunday at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, host to the Qatar Airways Grand Prix of Portugal. 10 was the number this weekend for Pol Espargaro, who managed another solid top 10 result in Portimao, after his P10 in the sprint, starting from the 10th position. A contact in the opening lap forced Enea Bastianini to return to his pitbox to change a broken piece, before he rejoined the action. All there was left to do was to take the experience of 25 laps of racing before heading to the season finale.
Grand Prix of Portugal
After his solid top 10 in the sprint yesterday, Pol Espargaro was eager to keep the good performances going in the long distance. Lights of the penultimate round of 2025 were out at 13:00 local time, just after a moving tribute of local fans towards their hero Miguel Oliveira, racing in Portimao for the last time in MotoGP™. Pedro Acosta made a lightning start, but it was Marco Bezzecchi who won it at the T1 exit to take the early lead. From his 10th position on the grid, Pol took a good start, but soon in turn 5, a contact with Ai Ogura almost had Polyccio crash, while Franco Morbidelli was down. Enea Bastianini also found himself somehow involved in that early incident, and a contact with Morbidelli forced him to return to the pit box to get some parts changed in the following lap. The Italian rejoined the race, but the goals were not the same anymore then, as it was just about taking the experience on 25 laps. The Italian rode a solid pace, and we will highlight that he lapped the 5th fastest race lap after he rejoined. That T5 incident had Pol dropped to P13, but he progressed to 12th in the next lap with Joan Mir forced to retire once again. Fabio Di Giannantonio overcame Pol in the next lap, and that was P13 again for Espargaro after 3 laps. It took a few laps for the Spaniard to properly settle into his race pace, but he held his ground. Francesco Bagnaia’s crash on lap 11 meant P11 for Pol, and the next lap, he overcame Australian Jack Miller to make his first top 10 appearance. After 15 laps, Pol still sat in P10, 1.379 seconds behind Di Giannantonio, but Jack Miller remained quite close behind, progressively closing the gap on the number 44. At the front, pole sitter Marco Bezzecchi had not looked back since the race start, and he had a 2.4 seconds gap on chaser Alex Marquez, himself followed by Pedro Acosta. As 5 laps remained, Pol had significantly growed the gap on his opponents, and Jack Miller was caught by a Luca Marini eager to place his Honda factory bike within the top 10. P10 it was at the checkered flag for Pol Espargaro, another solid performance for the Spaniard, as he replaced Maverick Viñales for the 5th time this season.
That's all folks for Portugal this year, we are already looking forward to coming back next year! The team will now move to Valencia in Spain, for the season finale, next week on November 14-15-16!
POL ESPARGARO: "Coming back here in Portugal, being able to finish the race in the top 10, and being able to bring back good information to the team, is something that I am really happy about. I feel like I have closed the circle, I have finished the weekend here that I did not finish in 2023, so it is a relief somehow, and we can all kind of close that chapter. I hope that it is the last time of the season that I am racing, because it would mean that Maverick Vinales is finally fit and ready to come back. In case it is the last time this season, I would like to thank the Tech3 team for the few rounds we have spent together, they are family to me, so thank you to everyone for making me feel at home!"
ENEA BASTIANINI: "Unfortunately, I had contact with Franco Morbidelli who was too optimistic at turn 5 in the opening lap, and that broke my front fairing, the steering somehow was locked into the fairing, I could not turn properly, so it was necessary to stop and change. We rejoined the track, and we did a really good race, with a pace that would have allowed me to fight for the top 5 today, so it is frustrating of course. When you start from the back, you are always going to face potential troubles in the midpack, so obviously, we must improve qualifying, as always."
NICOLAS GOYON, Team Manager: "First of all, I really would like to thank Pol Espargaro who did another unbelievable weekend for us. I know he was not 100% ready to replace Maverick this week since the decision was made quite late, and we all know that the last time he was in Portugal was a bad memory. It was for sure not easy mentally, but we are really glad that he got 'closure' with this track, with two top 10 results this weekend, and with our team also, so thank you for everything Pol. On the other hand, congratulations to Enea Bastianini for his never give-up attitude today. He had an early contact which broke his fairing, and somehow blocked the steering of the bike. He came back for a quick fix, and then rejoined the race. He rode a really fast pace, close to the top 5 pace, and he clocked the 5th fastest lap today, which shows he had a really good potential today. Anyway, that gives us a lot of hope heading to the last race, and we will do everything we can to finish the season on a good note. See you next week in Valencia for the final round!"
RACE RESULTS
1. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA), Aprilia Racing, 41'13.616
2. Alex Marquez (SPA), BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP, +2.583
3. Pedro Acosta (SPA), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, +3.188
10. Pol Espargaro (SPA), Red Bull KTM Tech3, +26.517
18. Enea Bastianini (ITA), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 2 laps
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDING
1. Marc Marquez (SPA), Ducati Lenovo Team, 545pts
2. Alex Marquez (SPA), BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP, 445pts
3. Marco Bezzecchi (ITA), Aprilia Racing, 323pts
14. Enea Bastianini (ITA), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 106pts
17. Maverick Viñales (SPA), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 72pts
22. Pol Espargaro (SPA), Red Bull KTM Tech3, 29pts
TRACK RECORDS
All time record: 2023 - M. Marquez (SPA) - 1'37.226 - 170.0 km/h
Best Race Lap: 2025 - P. Acosta (SPA) - 1'38.237 - 168.2 km/h
Best Pole: 2023 - M. Marquez (SPA) - 1'37.226 - 170.0 km/h
Top Speed: 2024 - M. Oliveira (POR) - 352.9 km/h
