Dre’s Race Review – MotoGP’s 2025 Portuguese Grand Prix

“Why not, Bez?”

I just realized that because Formula 1 is having its final off week of the year, alongside MotoGP’s finale at Valencia – This is the final DRR Double Header of 2025. Man, it’s been a fun year of writing.

For the first time in MotoGP history… welcome to Blackjack, Round 21. And with it, the series heading back to Portimao for the Portuguese Grand Prix. On deck? Maybe the greatest Sprint Race in MotoGP history, a return to the best of Bez and the sport saying goodbye to its home hero. Let’s get into it.

Save_US_Sprint.exe

If we’re gonna talk Portimao, we have to talk about what I think was the greatest Sprint race MotoGP has had since the format’s birth in 2023. A three-way breakaway fight between Marco Bezzecchi’s Aprilia on pole, alongside Alex Marquez’s Ducati and Pedro Acosta’s KTM, and it was non-stop action the whole way. Once settled from Bez’s holeshot, fifth on the grid Marquez had enough in hand to pass Acosta on the lengthy main straight, topping out at 350kph, but Acosta refusing to give up, counter-attacking immediately with block passes into Turns 3 and 5. Seriously, divebombing there is so brave given how easy it is to lock a break and go wide on a downhill cambered, blind apex left, coming down from 270kph down to second gear. 

Acosta was making shapes on his KTM to stay in touch, but as has so often been the case with the Austrian bike all season, its tire wear struggles later on saw Acosta start to fade. But then all of a sudden, with two laps left, he came back for one final assault on Marquez, coming up just short as he finished just a tenth of a second behind. A third Sprint win of 2025 for Marquez, and Acosta second yet again ahead of Bez.

It’s such a shame that such a brilliant, back and forth Sprint led to another ultimately flat race. Overnight, Bez got fiddling with the Aprilia engineers and came out with a setup that the Italian claimed “helped him be less aggressive with the bike”, and that was channeled into more speed. Bez took the holeshot and never looked back. By half distance, the lead had ballooned out from a second, to over four, with the same Top 3 from Saturday spread out separately from each other.

Portimao is really tough on tires due to its long flowing corners and undulations, and while Marquez was a comfortable second, Acosta tried the same trick again and reeled Marquez to within a second on the final two laps. Marquez found enough extra pace to hold Acosta at bay, bur not without a shredded front tire first. 

If nothing else, it’s an example that KTM can give Ducati a fright. Bez dominated the entire race on an Aprilia, the second time we’ve seen that this month. Ducati aren’t dominating and locking out the Top 5 anymore, with Alex under genuine pressure. KTM can run close, even with their bike not being quite as good as the Dukes in any department besides top speed, and even Yamaha and Honda both had bikes in the Top 10 with Fabio Quartararo and Johann Zarco respectively. It’s proof the concessions are working and bringing the field closer together. All five factories in the Top 10, and KTM had as much presence there as Ducati did. All steps in the right direction. Just a shame they can’t reach others all that well. 

Still, a brilliant win for Marco Bezzecchi, and it still feels weird that it’s his first GP win since Silverstone back in May, and even that felt like a bit of a gift. With it, he all but secures third in the Championship, with just three more points needed to wrap it up. As I’ve said before, when Bez wins, he wins big, and while some of his race craft has been sus at times, at his best he remains untouchable. It makes me wonder, just what is the dynamic going to be with Aprilia between him and Jorge Martin? Is Bez becoming the leader of this team? Food for thought.

Goodbye, Miggy

A short note acknowledging the moving on of Miguel Oliveira, who’s leaving MotoGP at the end of the season to head to BMW’s World Superbike team. It makes me feel, sad given how his career’s played out. 

Miggy means a little more to me. Back in 2023, when I was with WTF1, I was invited to help cover the British Grand Prix with The Race alongside their exceptional MotoGP team of Matt Beer, Simon Patterson and Valentin Khorounzhiy. It was a privilege, and as well as getting to be a guest on their Podcast, my one solo credit on The Race was talking about Miggy’s career and the elements of misfortune. 

It was 10 years ago this week that Oliveira finished second in the Moto3 Championship to Danny Kent after coming from 110 points back when the latter won his home Grand Prix at Silverstone. Miggy scored 140 out of the last 150 points available to end up just six short of the crown. It was a comeback of ridiculous racing intelligence and racecraft to constantly get himself to the front and win in a class so chaotic.

He went to Moto2, beat Kent as a teammate under Leopard, and then headed to KTM where he was nine points shy of the title there, only beaten by a nine-win Pecco Bagnaia. When the pandemic came in MotoGP, he won his home race in Portugal in dominant fashion, as well as winning in the soaking wet in Indonesia, and that double overtake on Jack Miller and Pol Espargaro in Austria. The man can ride. And there’s still only half a dozen riders on the grid today that beats his five top-flight victories.

But moving to Aprilia at the wrong time and then a Pramac team that’s sunk into Yamaha for the long-haul has ultimately derailed his career. It’s understandable that they’ve gambled on the high upside of Toprak, alongside the inevitable frustration of Miggy being injured and missing significant time, often through accidents that weren’t his fault. It’s a brutal world, but that’s how bike racing has always been. 

It was genuinely awe-striking to see Miguel get his own pre-race ceremony in what could be his final home race in MotoGP, with his wife and daughter front and center, and tears on the grid. It was awesome, it was classic pomp and circumstance and it worked as an accurate reflection of Oliveira’s impact on the sport back in Portugal.

I’ve had friends mention that he was everywhere on the advertising boards when they were in the country. I’ve had another say that only Bruno Fernandes and Cristiano Ronaldo are bigger sporting stars. Bonkers.

Miggy could kick ass in World Superbikes, but the threat of Nicolo Bulega on a new Ducati Panigale is hard to ignore. We’ll see what happens, but in any case, Miggy will be missed. 

The Lightning Round

On a more serious note, while I’m delighted that Jose Antonio Rueda and Noah Dettwiler are now at their home countries recovering from their horrific injuries, it does irk me that KTM revealed that Rueda also suffered a cardiac arrest from the shock of the incident but both riders were reported as conscious at the scene, despite being clinically dead. I’ve said before, communication in those vital moments are so important, and that wording doesn’t mean anything from a health standpoint. The late Jules Bianchi was reported to be “awake and alert” when he had the crash that ultimately lost his life. More care needs to be taken in future. 

Until further notice, Pecco Bagnaia is Lightning Round level discussions only. Because honestly, I’m friggin’ fed up talking about his latest crash. A shame given he was running a comfortable fourth in the race. But for the first time since his rookie year, he’s DNF’d in four Grand Prix in a row. This is increasingly becoming an untenable situation and everyone around the sport knows it. 

Least his temporary teammate in Nicolo Bulega had a very solid first outing. His test was derailed by rain but his weekend was solid. Qualified in P17 and was on track to improve before running wide, and then got a point in the GP for 15th place. Impressive stuff and definitely another option Ducati will have for 2027 if this keeps up.

Honda needs 9 points in Valencia to move from Tier D to C in terms of concessions. It means their GP riders would no longer be able to test, they’d lose 40 tires for testing across the season, they wouldn’t be able to pick their own tracks for said tests, and they’d lose an aero update and engine for 2026. Again, more evidence that the concession system is working.

Dramatic weekend in Moto2 as the title fight effectively ended on Sunday. Diogo Moreira won a brilliant race after going back and forth with a surprise in Collin Veijer for second, with David Alonso also bunching up for his third podium in a row. But with Manu Gonzalez down in sixth, it means Moreira has a 24 point lead with one round to go, effectively sealing the title. Moreira’s gotten better and better as the season’s gone on, with Gonzalez now winless since Mugello and seven straight races without even a podium finish. A startling collapse. Also, much love to Collin, who dedicated his podium to JAR, talked at length about his own injury struggles in 2025, and losing two of his cousins this year. An incredibly brave and classy young man.

Goes to show you as well, that the Moto3 class of 2025 is a ludicrously strong one. Three of the graduates have now finished on the podium, two have won, and Dani Holgado sealed Rookie of the Year. All we need is a big day from Ivan Ortola…

…Oh and one more Moto2 note: American Racing Team cutting Marcos Ramirez despite having a contract for 2026, to be replaced with Filip Salac, who has reportedly paid for his seat. Another grim example in bike racing that a contract might as well be written on toilet paper and used for a wipe. It’s unfortunate and another symptom of the reduction in importance of Moto2, because teams are going to be forced into more uncomfortable decisions to justify their existence. 

The Verdict: 4/10 (Meh) – NEW RULE! I’m now adding a 1-point margin either way on the scoring system if a weekend has a Sprint race that I have to acknowledge. It feels unfair that such a brilliant Sprint race gets wrapped up in a terrible race, so Portimao gets a bonus point. Shame the race was so friggin’ drab, but they can’t all be winners. See you in Valencia for the season finale.