Márquez complies on his return and Quartararo rules in Portugal

Marc Márquez fulfilled his goal on his return and completed the 25 laps of the MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix, where Fabio Quartararo won, placing himself as the new leader of the World Championship. The from ilerdense made an exciting start but was very restrained throughout the race and in the end crossed the finish line in a great seventh position, after being out of the circuits for nine months. All eyes were on Marc Márquez. The Repsol Honda rider is the news of the weekend, he returned nine months and three operations after that crash in the Spanish GP last year. The big question was whether and how he could handle 25 laps. Throughout the weekend he was doing stretches to loosen his muscles, something normal after so long inactive. Marquez started from sixth position. His plan was not to over-shoot during the first part of the race so that he could last the entire race. His options depended on the men at the top, with Quartararo on pole, not pulling excessively at the beginning and imposing a somewhat slower race pace. The start of the Lierdense was perfect, he placed third in the second corner beating Morbidelli, Quartararo and Miller. Joan Mir came to his wheel, who started ninth and placed fourth at the start. The last two MotoGP champions were in the race after what happened in Q1 on Saturday. Suzuki’s risked too much to overcome him and they almost touched. Márquez tried to give him back the overtaking but there was no gap and they ended up touching, that clash caused Quartararo and Miller to overtake him. Marc, aware of his limitations, did not want to force the machinery from the beginning, which made Aleix Espargaró also surpass him.Thus, the one from Cervera, was losing positions for not wanting to go to the limit as we are used to and dropped to ninth position. After overtaking Márquez, Quartararo began a new comeback. The bad start, another one for the Yamaha, which has already become common, began to pull forward to get into the leading group. Rins overtook Zarco with 22 laps to go and took the lead. Shortly after, it would be Quartararo and Mir who would go on to the Ducati. The fight was between the Suzuki and the Yamaha.Quartararo wins the battle A few laps later Fabio passed Rins to take the lead in the race. The Yamaha Frenchman had been the fastest throughout the weekend and he also showed it in the race. As soon as he was the leader, he began to pull to escape. Only Álex Rins managed to keep up with the pace imposed by the leader. From then on, two battles were fought, one between the Spaniard living in Andorra and the Gaul for victory and the other between Mir and Zarco for third position. Behind, Márquez, continued his work, making his career and beating his lap fast particular lap after lap. His start had been promising but the nine months of inactivity made him more cautious than usual and he focused on finishing the race. Meanwhile, Rins continued to beat Quartararo’s records. The Frenchman was trying to leave but the Spaniard held on like a wild boar until he crashed with seven laps to go, with Rins’ crash bringing Mir closer to the podium. The current champion placed fourth. Pecco Bagnaia and Zarco beat him in the battle for the podium. The top speed of the Ducati made it very difficult for Mir’s Suzuki. He held on and on the next lap it was Zarco who fell.The Frenchman, who arrived as the leader of the World Cup in this race, said goodbye to the leadership of the championship as Mir advanced to third position. Morbidelli came strong from behind but the Spaniard held on and climbed to the third step of the podium. On the other hand, Maverick Viñales closed a weekend to forget. The Yamaha one started twelfth and placed twentieth at the start. Nor did Pol Espargaró have his day, having to abandon 21 laps to go. It is not being a great start to the season for the youngest of the Espargaró in his new stage with Repsol Honda.