MotoGP: Omnipotent Oliveira demolishes opposition in Portimao masterclass

The final round of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship took place in Portimao, with Miguel Oliveira starting from pole position for the first time in his short MotoGP career.

It was the pole sitter, Oliveira, who made the holeshot from Franco Morbidelli and Jack Miller, as Cal Crutchlow slotted into third place ensuring the early order at the front was the same as that of the grid. 

From there, Oliveira imposed his pace, which turned out to be precisely relentless. The Portuguese had over one second at the end of lap two, and the gap continued to grow with no signs of any kind of response from those behind. In the end, it was a demolition job by the #88, as Oliveira took his first home Grand Prix win, and his second MotoGP win of the season after his Styrian triumph. 

Behind the dominant home hero, Jack Miller and Franco Morbidelli engaged in a similar kind of battle to that which they fought a week ago in Valencia. Morbidelli led, and in the closing stages Miller was able to close the gap down and apply the pressure. Morbidelli was able to relent, but a strong move from the Australian in turn 13 on the final lap followed by some shrewd defensive riding in turn 14 allowed the #43 to exact some revenge on his Italian rival to take second place. It was not the win that Miller wanted to reward his Pramac Racing team with in his final race with them, but a fourth podium of the season for him means he has the third most of the season.

Franco Morbidelli was forced to settle for third place by Miller, but that was enough for the Italia to secure a silver medal in the riders’ championship. Having been reduced to two engines for the year, Morbidelli was running a motor with almost double the usual mileage for an engine in this race. He and crew chief Ramon Forcada worked miracles during the season to avoid a penalty similar to that awarded to Maverick Vinales in Valencia when he had to open a sixth engine and was forced to start from pit lane. In the end, Morbidelli ended the season just 13 points behind Joan Mir. Assuming he took the podium he looked likely to achieve in Andalucia when he had his mechanical failure, he would have had enough points to win the title. Of course, nothing is ever that simple, but it puts into perspective the impressive season by the Italian, who last year was out-classed by his teammate, Fabio Quartararo. 

Nine seconds behind Miller and Morbidelli was Pol Espargaro, the #44 signing off his KTM career with a fourth place despite a major moment on the front end in turn eight in the mid-part of the race which he did well to save. 

The Spaniard held on from Takaaki Nakagami at the end, after the Japanese rider came on strong in the latter stages to finish fifth, ahead of Andrea Dovizioso – sixth in his final race for Ducati – and the impressive Stefan Bradl in seventh. 

Aleix Espargaro took his best result of the season in eighth place, ahead of Alex Marquez and Johann Zarco who completed the top 10 in his final race for Esponsorama Racing.

Behind Zarco were the two factory Monster Energy Yamahas of Maverick Vinales in 11th and Valentino Rossi in 12th. With Fabio Quartararo, on the third 2020-spec YZR-M1, down in 14th it was a further affirmation of the mountain Yamaha have to climb yet again over the winter as they continue to seek rear grip. 

Splitting the Yamahas was Cal Crutchlow in 13th in his final race as a full-time MotoGP rider, and completing the points in 15th was Alex Rins, who was unable to do anything to secure the Manufacturers’ title and triple crown for Suzuki. Instead, Jack Miller’s second place ensured the constructors’ crown went to Ducati for the first time since 2007. 

Danilo Petrucci missed out on points in his final race for Ducati, finishing 16th ahead of Iker Lecuona’s replacement, Mika Kallio, and Tito Rabat who finished his final MotoGP race in 18th and last. 

Francesco Bagnaia’s race was done after a suspected shoulder dislocation after contact with Joan Mir in turn three on the opening lap. From the helicopter shot it looked like Mir dived to the inside to make up some positions early on, and ploughed straight into the side of Bagnaia. 

The reigning world champion had more contact in turn three on the next lap, this time with Johann Zarco, and eventually retired with bike problems. 

An early mistake from Brad Binder meant a top six would always be difficult, but a crash soon after meant his season ended 30 minutes earlier than anticipated. 

The final retirement was Lorenzo Savadori, who crashed three laps from the finish in what is likely to be his final race for the factory Aprilia team, having replaced Bradley Smith in the last three races.