BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
A
new-look MotoGP sea-
son kicked into life at
the Algarve International
Circuit in Portugal with Fran-
cesco Bagnaia starting as he in-
tended by taking the new sprint
race win as well as the Sunday
feature race.
The World Champion kept his
powder dry in a chaotic week-
end in a crash-strewn weekend
that saw Pol Espargaro (Gas-
Gas) taken to hospital after a
sickening tumble during Friday
practice, Joan Mir (Honda),
Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati),
Luca Marini (Ducati) and Enea
Bastianini (Ducati) all crash out
of the sprint race, and Marc Mar
-
quez (Honda) slam into Miguel
Oliveira (Aprilia) on the third
lap of the Sunday race in brutal
fashion that left Oliveira with
bruising to his right hip, Jorge
Martin (Ducati) with a broken
toe and Marquez himself with
a broken metacarpal that will
cause him to miss this week
-
end's Argentine MotoGP.
ROUND 1 / MARCH 24-26, 2023
ALGARVE INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT / PORTIMAO, PORTUGAL
MOTOGP I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
P66
Francesco Bagnaia
used the number-one
plate in the perfect
fashion in Portimao,
opening his account
with two race wins
to kick off MotoGP's
new format
Italy's national anthem,
Il Canto degli Italiani,
rings out with Pecco
Bagnaia singing loudly
and proudly after
dominating Portimao.
Pecco's
PORTIMAO
PERFECTION
