The event began in the town by the waterfront, with fans gathering for a glimpse of their hero as Oliveira took to the stage, with Mayor of Portimão Isilda Gomes and circuit CEO Paulo Pinheiro also in attendance. After talking to the fans and revealing a special helmet design too, Oliveira then went down to the crowd, signed some autographs, and took more than a few selfies. Then it was time to get suited and booted for the ride to the track – for both rider and fans.

Riding alongside and following a MotoGP rider – who is riding a MotoGP bike – is a truly unique opportunity, and an awe-inspiring number of bikers weren’t about to pass that up. Once Oliveira’s RC16 was warmed up and ready to go, the procession took off from the town and the hundreds of bikes slotted in behind as the parade snaked its way up towards the track. With the journey taking more than half an hour, there was more than enough time for the fans to soak in the experience… and the experience was still far from over.

This time, the track wasn’t simply a destination. It awaited with another unique opportunity: a lap of the venue, with a MotoGP rider on a MotoGP bike. Thundering through the gates and up towards the paddock, the parade headed from the road onto the circuit for a lap of the iconic rollercoaster, with Oliveira remaining front and centre.

Miguel Oliveira: “We had a good comparison last year with fans and without, and for sure this season we wanted to also to make something special, a pre-event and it had to involve the fans. It was a great opportunity, the last time I rode a MotoGP machine on the street was in August after my win in Spielberg, so now we got the chance to ride it again and it’s quite special – this time even more because they can follow me, and it’s really cool.”

“I think everyone who loves motorcycles and riding… I mean, if I put myself in their shoes I wouldn’t miss this chance! It’s a huge opportunity to ride, see these bikes close up, which are amazing and quite unique. I wouldn’t want to miss it! It’s a great day. My expectations for the weekend is to enjoy the weekend and get a good result, haha. Being in Portugal gives me an extra boost and motivation that whatever happened before doesn’t really matter, it’s all about enjoying the weekend and doing the best we can.”

MotoGP is its own orchestra when the revs go up and the lights go out every Sunday, but the grid full of fans gave even the world’s fastest motorcycle racing Championship a run for its money on sheer energy and noise. If Portugal’s love of MotoGP and Miguel Oliveira needed an introduction, in 2022 it got one in serious style. And now it’s time for the rest of the grid to line up alongside the home hero and take on the former winner on familiar turf, so make sure to tune in for the 2022 Portuguese on Sunday at 13:00 (GMT +1).

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Question: How are you feeling and what are your expectations for the weekend as title leader?

Enea Bastianini: “My feeling is fantastic. Here at this track I won the 2020 Moto2 title but also I’m the leader of the Championship for the moment. It’s only been four races, but it’s been really nice for me, the team and everybody, it’s fantastic. Now we have to reset, the European races are different. The levels of the bikes and riders are very close, and it will be really difficult to stay out front, but we are really motivated and can’t wait to start the weekend.”

Q: What about the possibility of a wet race on the GP21?

EB23: “The conditions will be strange this weekend. There will be a lot of win and the possibility of rain. In Indonesia we made a good step in the race in the wet conditions. Also, Pecco was really fast here and I can check his data to see something but I want to start this weekend from zero and after we will see what happens.”

Q: Do you have a good feeling after Austin, and hitting 500 podiums for Suzuki? 

Alex Rins: “As you say Suzuki made history in Austin with 500 podiums. I’m so happy to be part of that. Since 2017 when I joined the team we’ve worked hard to achieve big things so now we’re in great shape. We finished 2nd in Austin but we’ve done many great weekends. Let’s see this weekend, the weather could be tricky. Friday and Saturday we might have rain and wind. We’re in good shape so let’s see where we end up.”

Q: What about the future?

AR42: “We haven’t started talking yet. The good thing and the thing that keeps me calm is that already Livio and the Japanese guys have told me that they want to continue so I’m calm. I can ride in a better way because of that. My manager will start talking in the next races about an extension.”

Q: There are some potentially good races coming up for you, what’s the importance of building momentum?

Jack Miller: “Yeah that’s the plan at this point in time. It’s nice to come into the European season let’s say with the ball rolling a little bit. Bumpy start as it generally is for me and the Championship but like you say, got the ball rolling now we’ve got some good tracks coming up. Starting to really gel with my bike, understanding it more and more every weekend. You know what we need to do, where we need to work on that kind of thing but all in all just happy, going through the motions trying to do the same thing we did in Austin which was just put together a solid weekend and I think that gives you the confidence. It brings you the confidence for Sunday’s race you know, we ran out of steam a little bit there but it was definitely a building block on what we need to do for the races coming forward.”

On the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve:

JM43: “It’s so different to any other track we got on the calendar that makes it nice you know, we gotta negotiate the hill, the elevation, you’ve got corners off camber, on camber. It throws a bit of everything at you so it’s definitely a refreshing track to ride after you know, a lot of the tracks nowadays are built very similar, so it’s kind of nice to go to something that’s completely left field. We’ve had a pretty good record around here so yeah hopefully we can find you know the speed that we had this time last year and well not this time, the one at the end of the year, so we’ll will try to find that and yeah build a solid weekend. As the boys said the Championship sort of really starts kicking off here and starts heating up now so hopefully we’ll be in the forefront.”

Q: Are any problems now solved heading into Portugal? 

Marc Marquez: “Yeah of course Austin was a good weekend. The target was to find confidence and we did it. We approached the weekend in a good way and did a solid weekend. It’s true I always want more, to finish in sixth position, the comeback was very good but we were looking for something more. Yeah we had a technical issue at the start, and it’s something that can happen with a new bike and the most important thing is Honda found the problem and resolved it for the future. It’s important and it’s time to think of this weekend and to continue our progression.”

Q: Now with the new bike and fit again, what are your expectations?

MM93: “It was a nice comeback one year ago here in Portimão after the long injury. It hasn’t been an easy year with ups and downs and some injuries but anyways we are in Portimão to compete. It’s true that inside our box we don’t have a lot of reference because I competed only one time and it was half and half. The last GP here, Alex and Pol were quite fast. We need to understand with this new bike if we can continue the same way we did in Austin, it’s time to reconfirm here in Portimão. The best thing is to approach the weekend without expectation and just try to understand, try to feel the bike and after Warm Up we will understand where we are.”

On a more up and down start to the season:

Miguel Oliveira: “The start wasn’t what we wanted because we wanted to be inside the top ten and close to the top five. We come here and being a home GP we can reset the mind and everything. My motivation is high. We want to find the speed we had in the past and try be competitive here in Portugal again.”

And it was a warm welcome with the pre-event parade proving a huge hit:

MO88: “I think it was around 700 bikes. Maybe more! Every year there’s something going on, so this year we managed to get KTM involved and bring the MotoGP bike to the street. Every time you take the bike out of its natural environment it’s amazing. A privilege to be involved and to be surrounded by this great support. Let’s hope I can give something back.” he finished. 

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Day 1 of the official Moto2 and Moto3 test at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve saw Jake Dixon (GASGAS Aspar Team) make a late lunge to the top in the intermediate class, the Brit ending the day 0.075 ahead of Aron Canet (Flexbox HP 40).

Almost as close was Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo), only another four thousandths in arrears. Only a few more thousandths behind came his teammate, reigning Moto3 World Champion Pedro Acosta, with last year’s rookie sensation maintaining that moniker as he moves into the intermediate class…

Then came a small gap back to Cameron Beaubier (American Racing) as the number 6 ended the day 0.265 off Acosta, heading up another group of incredibly tight laptimes. Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) and Albert Arenas (GASGAS Aspar Team) were up next, with Marcel Schrötter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) just 0.002 off Arenas. Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) took P9, with Fermin Aldeguer (Speed Up Racing) taking tenth.

The likes of Fernandez, Acosta, Ogura, Beaubier and Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing) didn’t head out in the final session and with laptimes only a second off the pole record already, how much more will get pulled out the locker on Day 2?

Moto2 Testing Day 1 Top Three (Full Results Here)

1 Jake Dixon (GASGAS Aspar Team) – Kalex – 1:43.169
2 Aron Canet (Flexbox HP 40) – Kalex – +0.075
3 Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) – Kalex – +0.089

Moto3
Tatsuki Suzuki began his tenure with Leopard Racing by topping the timesheets on Day 1, the Japanese rider putting in a 1’48.575 to pull nearly a tenth and a half clear of Izan Guevara (GASGAS Aspar Team), who is gearing up for his second season in Moto3. It was a rookie completing the top three though, with David Muñoz (BOE SKX) 0.283 off the top.

That denied Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) as the Turk was an apt 0.053 further back, with another rookie standout in fifth: Diogo Moreira (MT Helmets – MSI). The Brazilian debutant was even closer in the tight field, 0.017 off Öncü.

Adrian Fernandez seems to be settling in at Red Bull KTM Tech 3 as he ended Day 1 in P6, just ahead of Sergio Garcia (GASGAS Aspar Team). Carlos Tatay (CFMoto Racing PrüstelGP) put CFMoto into the top ten on their debut in P8, ahead of another impressive rookie in Ivan Ortola (Team MTA). Ayumu Sasaki’s first official day in Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max colours saw the Japanese rider complete the top ten.

That leaves the likes of Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and John McPhee (Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max) outside the top ten, but it is, after all, only the first day. And Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing), the runner up last season, will be glad of that too as he was sidelined due to illness. Taiyo Furusato (Honda Team Asia) is also sidelined, the Japanese rookie through injury after breaking his ankle, and he will unfortunately miss the test.

Moto3 Testing Day 1 Top Three (Full Results Here)

1 Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing) – Honda – 1’48.575
2 Izan Guevara (GASGAS Aspar Team – GASGAS – +0.131
3 David Muñoz (BOE SKX) – KTM – +0.283

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The rider on the chase was none other than rookie sensation – so far the moniker has only rolled over from Moto3 to Moto2 – Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo), with the debutant just 0.037 in arrears. His teammate Augusto Fernandez was third, 0.111 off the top, with Day 1’s fastest, Jake Dixon (GASGAS Aspar Team), fourth on Sunday and the final rider to break the old lap record.

Joe Roberts (Italtrans Racing Team) had a little fresh air in fifth, the American 0.147 off Dixon but two and a half tenths clear of Marcel Schrötter (Liqui Moly Intact GP) in P6. Fermin Aldeguer (MB Conveyors Speed Up) put his Boscoscuro in seventh, ahead of Ai Ogura (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) as the two sophomores continue to show good pace. So too does Cameron Beaubier (American Racing) as he slotted into ninth. Albert Arenas (GASGAS Aspar Team) was only 0.017 off the American, completing the top ten.

Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) once again sat out the final session of the day, and the Brit is suffering from tendonitis that will also see him miss Day 3 entirely. He crashed in the second session too, as did Ogura, Acosta, Keminth Kubo (Yamaha VR46 Master Camp Team) and Sean Dylan Kelly (American Racing). Kelly also crashed in session one, as did Schrötter and Aldeguer. The final session saw the most tumbles as Beaubier, Arenas, MV Agusta Forward Racing’s Simone Corsi and Marcos Ramirez, Niccolo Antonelli (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) and Jorge Navarro (Flexox HP 40) crashed, all riders ok.

Moto2 Testing Day 2 Top Three (Full Results Here)

1 Aron Canet (Flexbox HP 40) – Kalex – 1’41.892
2 Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Ajo) – Kalex – +0.037
3 Augusto Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) – Kalex – +0.111

Moto3
Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing) has retained his grip on the top in Portugal, with the Japanese rider leaving it late but coming out on top to deny new teammate Dennis Foggia by just 0.019. Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team) made it a Honda 1-2-3, exactly a tenth in further arrears.

There was a bigger gap of a couple of tenths back to Carlos Tatay (CFMoto Racing PrüstelGP), with the Spaniard, in turn, 0.297 ahead of Riccardo Rossi (SIC58 Squadra Corse). John McPhee was sixth as the Scot gets to grips with his Sterilgarda Husqvarna Max machine, with Sergio Garcia (GASGAS Aspar Team) 0.003 further back and Alberto Surra (Rivacold Snipers Team) 0.077.

David Muñoz (BOE SKX) followed up a top three on Day 1 with ninth on Day 2, and the Spaniard was top rookie as he slotted in 0.144 behind Surra. Izan Guevara (GASGAS Aspar Team) completed the top ten.

There were some crashes on Day 2, most notably a tumble for Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) as the Turk crashed and collected his new teammate, Adrian Fernandez. Fernandez was ok and Öncü headed for the Medical Center, given the all-clear for fractures but suffering with pain in his foot.

Elia Bartolini (QJMotor Avintia Racing Team) was the sole crasher in the first session. The Öncü incident was in the second session, in which Jaume Masia (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Guevara also fell. McPhee crashed in session three, riders all ok.

Moto3 Testing Day 2 Top Three (Full Results Here)

1 Tatsuki Suzuki (Leopard Racing) – Honda – 1:47.390
2 Dennis Foggia (Leopard Racing) – Honda – +0.019
3 Andrea Migno (Rivacold Snipers Team) – Honda – +0.119

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