Before starting the race, Marc Márquez, surely, was already very clear that leaving Qatar with his eighth MotoGP World Championship under his arm was going to be terribly complicated. He needed to win, something that, after all, he had already achieved in the sprint race on Saturday. But, above all, Jorge Martín was left out of the points. Something that, in a test with 16 participants, after Yamaha decided not to participate and Pecco Bagnaia, due to his spectacular fall the day before, and Luca Marini were left out, was almost impossible. In the end, the one from Cervera did not manage to win either. The first step of the podium was occupied by Marco Bezzecchi who fell to the ground the day before after fighting arm and arm precisely with Márquez for first place and who, simply, ran with the knife between his teeth. Marc climbed into second, after having been more than patient throughout the entire test and passing in the final stages a Raúl Fernández who, perhaps, got out of hand with the consumption of his Aprilia and had to settle for third. Martín, still hobbled by his broken right wrist, was seventh.
Marc's match point now moves to Portugal. With the results of this last Grand Prix, the one from Cervera now has an advantage of 60 points over Jorge Martín and 74 points over Bezzecchi. The Italian, thanks to this fact, still has a very slight chance of becoming champion. But, to achieve this, Márquez would have to leave empty-handed in the next two Grands Prix and Martín would not be able to add more than 14 points in both weekends. Something that, given the exercise of resilience that San Sebastián de los Reyes signed, seems unlikely. One of the images of the weekend, without a doubt, was his welcome with applause in his box and how they had to help him get off the bike so that he could then put ice on his more than battered right wrist.
In Portimao, to be champion at the end of the sprint race, Márquez needs to score two more points than Jorge Martín achieves. Taking into account that, in this case, the winner takes 12, the second, nine, the third, seven, the fourth, six, the fifth, five, the sixth, four, the seventh, three, the eighth, two and the ninth, finally, one. In Lusail, apparently, the man from Cervera took out his calculator for a long time. Knowing both how complicated it was to seal the championship in Qatar and that a mistake could turn everything upside down, he had a good start, but above all he made sure not to lose too much sight of a Bezzecchi who gave everything from the first minute and a Raúl Fernández who did not take too long to take the lead either. From there, he did not lose his calm even when Pedro Acosta, who was ultimately convicted of problems with his tire pressure and who finally finished the test in sixth position, also overtook him. As for the rest of the Spaniards, Iker Lecuona, replacement for Álex Márquez, was tenth, Fermín Aldeguer, twelfth and Maverick Viñales, thirteenth.
«It has been a very important weekend because we knew that the Aprilia was going to be very fast. I have taken things from my riding that I didn't know I had and Ducati has also taken things from the bike that have worked very well. Little by little, I started to feel good and, when Acosta let me pass, I started to push and feel even better. The battle of Qatar is won. It wasn't a matter of nerves, it's better to lose half a second at the beginning than three at the end. I have managed to stop people talking about my shoulder after Aragon, so we are going to continue without talking. In Portimao there are going to be extreme conditions, it will be quite cold, so perhaps we will have to take a step back and continue adding," Márquez himself revealed after the test.
