13:12
Lap 5/25
Under half-a-second now between Bezzecchi and Marquez, Acosta lost a bit of touch that time.
Alex Marquez, Pedro Acosta, 2025 MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix, Sprint. Credit: Gold and Goose.
© Gold & Goose
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2025 Portuguese MotoGP reaction LIVE UPDATES
Live updates from the 2025 Portuguese MotoGP race at Portimao, the penultimate grand prix of the season.
The 2025 Portuguese MotoGP race is due to start at 13:00 local time this afternoon.
Marco Bezzecchi starts on pole position after his strong Q2 performance yesterday. He will be after his second grand prix win of the season, the Italian still winless since his British GP victory in May despite his strong form in the majority of the races since the summer break.
Pedro Acosta remains winless in MotoGP in general for now, but the Spaniard seems to edge closer to victory with each weekend at the moment. Second yesterday, he starts second on the grid again today.
Alex Marquez won the Sprint yesterday but will start fifth today after a mistake in Q2. He's the rider with the best pace, but a start like he found yesterday to be immediately third would clearly help his cause for a fourth grand prix win of the season this afternoon.
Fabio Quartararo completes the front row today, but with low grip in Portimao this weekend he is expected to fall backwards in the race. He rode well in the Sprint yesterday to finish fourth, but certainly a podium feels like a stretch for the Frenchman, despite the obvious level he's riding at at present.
Francesco Bagnaia had a miserable Sprint, dropping to eighth on the final run to the line. He usually goes better on Sundays than Saturdays, and he will be hoping to continue that trend this afternoon, although it would take quite an improvement from yesterday to be able to challenge the likes of Bezzecchi, Marquez, and Acosta from fourth on the grid.
Honda suffered a tough Saturday, with only Johann Zarco in the points. Joan Mir has been strong this weekend but had a clutch issue yesterday, as did Somkiat Chantra, and the Spaniard was out after the first lap. Luca Marini has struggled more generally this weekend, so the onus is on Mir and Zarco to deliver for HRC this afternoon.
There is no Raul Fernandez today, he withdrew following his Practice crash on Friday after riding in FP2 yesterday morning.
Nicolo Bulega will make his 100th grand prix start today as he rides in place of Marc Marquez. He crashed on the second lap yesterday and starts again from 18th today.
This will be the final home race of the full-time grand prix career of Miguel Oliveira. He'll start from the back row in 19th.
09 Nov 2025
13:09
Lap 4/25
Marquez coming back to Bezzecchi, 0.5s now over the line. All the front three are in the mid-1:38s, Bagnaia in the high-1:38s, then the rest are in the 1:39s or lower.
13:08
Lap 3/25
Bezzecchi still making the pace at the front, still 0.6s over the line, although it was Acosta with the fastest lap of the race that time.
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13:07
Bastianini also in the pits. Neither he nor Mir has crashed, but both are out of it, to all intents and purposes.
13:07
Lap 2/25
0.6s over the line for Bezzecchi end of lap two, Acosta still right with Marquez. Bagnaia breaking away from Quartararo who is under pressure from Zarco, Binder, and Aldeguer.
Mir has entered the pits.
13:05
Marquez up to second, Bagnaia past Quartararo for fourth at turn one beginning lap two.
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13:05
Morbidelli down at turn five. He got out of shape on entry, dived to the inside, ran wide, tried to cut it back mid-corner, and make contact with a KTM, seems like Espargaro, as he did so.
13:03
Race start
It's lights out in Portimao and it's a holeshot for Bezzecchi from Acosta and Marquez, then Quartararo and Bagnaia.
13:00
Warm-up lap
Riders are off on their warm-up lap ahead of this 25-lap Portuguese Grand Prix.
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12:55
Bulega
No Marc Marquez, of course, today. He's replaced by Nicolo Bulega this time. 100th grand prix start today for the Italian and he'll be hoping it goes better than yesterday when he crashed out of the Sprint at turn 13 in the first few laps.
He will start 18th today.
12:53
Oliveira
It's been a difficult weekend for Miguel Oliveira, highlighted by his 19th-place starting position today.
It's his final Portuguese Grand Prix as a full-time MotoGP rider, and he's received a send-off from the Portuguese fans in the grandstand along the front straight ahead of this one.
Of course, heading to WorldSBK next year he'll get two races in his home country: one in Portimao, and another in Estoril. But a final home grand prix at home is always something worth celebrating.
12:50
The favourites
Three clear favourites this afternoon: Marco Bezzecchi, Pedro Acosta, and Alex Marquez.
That's the order they start in on the grid, but Marquez and Acosta were clearly the stronger riders yesterday, especially Marquez.
Different tyres today, of course, so things can change, but a fight between those three like we saw yesterday would be a nice way to head into the final race of the season.
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12:44
Marc Marquez’s manager gives positive recovery update: ‘He'll be on a bike soon’
Marc Marquez’s injury recovery is going well, according to his manager, who expects the world champion to get back on a bike "soon".
Read more ⬇️
Marc Marquez’s manager gives positive recovery update: ‘He'll be on a bike soon’
Marc Marquez, Ducati Corse, 2025 Indonesian MotoGP
© Gold and Goose
12:43
Conditions & tyres
Only 19C of air temperature this afternoon but it's as sunny as it's been all weekend, and that's resulting in the highest track temperature we've had so far: 28C at present.
In terms of tyres, currently no deviation from the hard-compound front, medium-compound rear standard.
12:42
Grid
The starting grid is reduced this weekend with the absence of Raul Fernandez, who withdrew yesterday morning after crashing in Practice on Friday afternoon.
The full starting order is below.
| Pos | Rider | Nat. | Team | Bike |
| 1 | Marco Bezzecchi | ITA | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia RS-GP |
| 2 | Pedro Acosta | ESP | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM RC16 |
| 3 | Fabio Quartararo | FRA | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha YZR-M1 |
| 4 | Francesco Bagnaia | ITA | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati Desmosedici GP25 |
| 5 | Alex Marquez | ESP | BK8 Gresini Racing | Ducati Desmosedici GP24 |
| 6 | Johann Zarco | FRA | LCR Honda Castrol | Honda RC213V |
| 7 | Joan Mir | ESP | Honda HRC Castrol | Honda RC213V |
| 8 | Jack Miller | AUS | Prima Pramac Yamaha | Yamaha YZR-M1 |
| 9 | Fabio Di Giannantonio | ITA | Pertamina Endurance VR46 Racing Team | Ducati Desmosedici GP25 |
| 10 | Pol Espargaro | ESP | Red Bull KTM Tech3 | KTM RC16 |
| 11 | Fermin Aldeguer | ESP | BK8 Gresini Racing | Ducati Desmosedici GP24 |
| 12 | Ai Ogura | JPN | Trackhouse Racing | Aprilia RS-GP |
| 13 | Luca Marini | ITA | Honda HRC Castrol | Honda RC213V |
| 14 | Brad Binder | RSA | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM RC16 |
| 15 | Franco Morbidelli | ITA | Pertamina Endurance VR46 Racing Team | Ducati Desmosedici GP24 |
| 16 | Enea Bastianini | ITA | Red Bull KTM Tech3 | KTM RC16 |
| 17 | Alex Rins | ESP | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha YZR-M1 |
| 18 | Nicolo Bulega | ITA | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati Desmosedici GP25 |
| 19 | Miguel Oliveira | POR | Prima Pramac Yamaha | Yamaha YZR-M1 |
| 20 | Lorenzo Savadori | ITA | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia RS-GP |
| 21 | Somkiat Chantra | THA | LCR Honda Idemitsu | Honda RC213V |
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12:36
Sighting lap
Riders are off on their sighting lap for the Portuguese Grand Prix. 25 minutes until lights out.
12:34
Welcome to live overage of today's penultimate MotoGP race of the 2025 season: the Portuguese Grand Prix.
The race is due to get underway in just under 30 minutes at 13:00 local time.
