How MotoGP’s rising South American star can clinch Moto2 title in Portugal

With two rounds to go in the 2025 Moto2 World Championship, Diogo Moreira is moving closer to a maiden world title and he has his first shot at the 2025 crown at the Portuguese MotoGP this weekend.

Moreira’s future has already been secured since the summer, with the Brazilian set to move up to the MotoGP class with LCR Honda next season, in place of Somkiat Chantra.

But the destiny of the 2025 Moto2 World Championship remains undecided, although Moreira took a substantial step towards it in Malaysia two weeks ago when he finished fifth, while his chief title rival Manuel Gonzalez crashed and remounted to finish 25th.

The result in Malaysia means that, despite trailing Gonzalez by over 60 points after the Czech Grand Prix, Moreira now leads the standings for the first time this season heading to Portimao.

His gap is nine points, the equivalent of the difference between finishing first and finishing third, so if Gonzalez wins in Portugal there is a clear possibility for the two to enter the final round in Valencia on equal points.

However, Portugal also stands as Moreira’s first opportunity to win the title, but he must outscore Gonzalez by 17 points in order to do so, since Gonzalez (four) has more race wins than him (three) this season.

To achieve that 17-point difference, Moreira must finish in the first two positions.

If Moreira wins, Gonzalez must be eighth or lower for the Brazilian to be crowned champion; if Moreira is second, Gonzalez must be 13th or lower.

Of the two, Gonzalez has the better on-paper record at Portimao, finishing third last year and fifth in 2023. Moreira, on the other hand, was third in the Moto3 race there in 2023 and was 18th in last year’s Moto2 race in the Algarve, although that was only the second Moto2 race of his rookie intermediate class campaign.

Moreira, though, is in the much better form of the two, having missed the podium only three times since the summer break and having finished inside the top-five in all but one race (he was 14th in Barcelona) in that time.

Gonzalez, on the other hand, hasn't been classified on the podium since he was third in Hungary and, even though he crossed the line second before a disqualification in Indonesia, he has not been in podium contention in either of the races since Mandalika.