ROUND 2 / MARCH 22-24, 2024
ALGARVE INTERNATIONAL CIRCUIT / PORTIMAO, PORTUGAL
MOTOGP I FIM MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
P86
MAVERICK'S RETURN
Maverick Vinales scored a sur-
prise success with a thrilling Sprint
success. It was the Catalan's first
triumph in MotoGP since March
2021. "It's a big, big relief, and I'm
really happy to show the confidence
and potential we have," he said
soon after. His riding was the talk of
the MotoGP field after. "Maverick's
been fantastic all weekend," said
teammate Aleix Espargaro. "He's
just releasing the front brake earlier
than me, like I did in Qatar. Then
helping the bike to accelerate bet-
ter. I'm not flowing." Vinales added,
"I can ride better, sharper, and es-
pecially I can brake very late, which
is one of my qualities. And then pick
up the bike very fast. So all of that
makes the tire life last longer."
MARQUEZ IN THE MIX
Marc Marquez collected his first
podium finish with Ducati in Satur-
day's Sprint. And that came despite
a fast crash at turn 15 in Q2 when
he engaged his ride-height device
at the wrong moment. Yet a second
place was achieved via a last-lap
overtake on Jorge Martin, which
was pleasing. "If we check all of
Saturday, I made a big mistake in
qualifying," he said. "To start on the
third row. It was easy to be on the
front row or second, so that third
row penalized me a lot. But we
were able to be fast. We had the
speed. That's the most important
thing from the weekend—we have
more speed than Qatar and that's
helping me overtake and be more
constant."
MOTOGP HEADING
TOWARD 850CC
The new MotoGP technical regula-
tions to be implemented in 2027 are
Briefly...
