PORTIMAO, Portugal — Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales claimed the first sprint victory of his career at the Portuguese Grand Prix, taking the chequered flag ahead of Marc Marquez and Jorge Martin at the Algarve International Circuit.
Championship leader and Francesco Bagnaia looked well set for a comfortable victory when he was in the lead but the Italian went wide with four laps left, allowing the three Spaniards behind him to move ahead.
Marquez had started eighth on the grid but rode his Gresini Racing bike with purpose to claim his first podium on a Ducati machine, overtaking Martin on the final lap with a well-timed lunge to take second place in an all-Spanish podium.
“I’m happy to be back on the top. My first win for Aprilia,” Vinales, who has now won in MotoGP on three different bikes, said according to Reuters.
Red Bull KTM’s Jack Miller had qualified fifth fastest but he shot off the line when the lights went out to take the lead on the opening lap. However, he was quickly reeled in by the chasing pack, with Bagnaia moving into lead with 10 laps to go.
Behind them, Marquez was fired up as well after starting eighth on the grid following a crash in qualifying and the six-times champion set the fastest lap, quickly cutting his way through the pack before slotting in behind Bagnaia.
But Vinales, who had overcome a bout of illness, had qualified second-fastest and the Aprilia rider moved up and sandwiched himself in between the two Ducati machines, pushing Marquez down to third.
Marquez lost one more position when sprint king Martin slipped through with seven laps left as the Pramac Racing rider set his sights on Vinales.
But all their eyes lit up when Bagnaia went wide allowing Vinales, Martin and Marquez to move into the top three.
Vinales had free air in front of him and raced into the lead without anyone to challenge him while Marquez waited for the perfect opportunity to pounce on the final lap as he overtook Martin and finished second.
“Tomorrow, the race will be even more difficult. I made a mistake in qualifying that I was able to avoid. I engaged the rear device too early and I crashed,” Marquez said.
“The team did a great job to repair the bike and in the race I was super lucky in the first lap to have a good start.”
Bagnaia finished fourth, which allowed him to hold on to a slim lead in the championship, two points ahead of last year’s title challenger and runner-up Martin.
Elsewhere, Red Bull’s Formula One world champion Max Verstappen took pole position for the Australian Grand Prix with Carlos Sainz qualifying alongside on the front row for Ferrari two weeks after undergoing surgery for appendicitis.
Verstappen’s team mate Sergio Perez qualified third but will start sixth after stewards imposed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg in the first session of qualifying.
That promoted both McLaren drivers, with Lando Norris to start third and Oscar Piastri fifth behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen had bemoaned handling problems through practice but put together a sizzling lap of one minute, 15.915 seconds on a glorious afternoon at Albert Park to be 0.27 seconds clear of Sainz.
It was the irrepressible Dutchman’s third pole for the Formula One season and fourth in succession.
“It was a bit unexpected today in qualifying, but very happy with Q3,” said the triple world champion, who won the race last year after his maiden pole at Albert Park.
“It was a bit of a tricky race so far but we managed to be there at the end, so very happy with that.
“(Ferrari) seem very quick, also in the long runs. So a bit of a question mark but that makes it exciting.”
Sainz, who missed the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix while recovering from surgery, said he was happy with Ferrari’s pace and to be challenging the Red Bulls.
“To make it to this weekend and then obviously to put it on the front row after leading through qualifying, I was almost not believing it, especially after how tough it´s been,” he added.
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