A lap six crash prevented Portuguese racer Miguel Oliveira from repeating his sensational 2020 win at the MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix last weekend.
The winner of the day was Frenchman Fabio Quartararo whose pole position start propelled him to victory.
Second and third places went to Francesco Bagnaia and Joan Mir, while Oliveira was unable to recover and finished 16th.
“It is hard to accept this result for many reasons: it was a GP held ‘at home’ and it was a good chance to achieve a good result,” the 26-year-old racer told SportTV after the race.
“The crash was caused by the temperature of the tyre, which is something I cannot control. We are leaving here sad but with our heads held high.”
Despite the crash which made it almost impossible for him to recover, Oliveira did not want to give up.
“I picked up the bike and continued to the end out of respect for my team, the people watching at home and Portuguese fans. This was not the show I wanted to put on. We have to get past this and concentrate on the future,” he said.
The Portuguese MotoGP Grand Prix was held last weekend at the Algarve International Racetrack in Portimão.
The event went ahead without spectators in the stands due to the pandemic.
The Portuguese Grand Prix top-10 was as follows:
1. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP)
2. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) + 4.809
3. Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 4.948
4. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) + 5.127
5. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 6.668
6. Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing Team Gresini) + 8.885
7. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) + 13.208
8. Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) + 17.992
9. Enea Bastianini (Avintia Esponsorama) + 22.369
10. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) + 23.676
In the other MotoGP categories, two Spanish riders emerged victorious with Raul Fernandez being crowned the Moto2 champion and Pedro Acosta celebrating a win in the Moto3 race.
