2024 Portuguese Moto3: Holgado holds off Rueda in last lap thriller

Daniel Holgado took over at the front and held on as Jose Antonio Rueda kept the pressure on all the way to the line in the Moto3 Portuguese Grand Prix in Portimao.

Lisa Lewis

24 Mar 2024

Daniel Holgado, Moto3 race, Portuguese MotoGP, 24 March

Daniel Holgado decided five laps remaining was the right time to push and his calculations proved correct as he lead all of the closing laps to the chequered flag to take back-to-back Portimao wins in round two of the Moto3 championship.

The Red Bull Gas Gas rider was a constant in the lead group as first Jose Antonio Rueda and then David Alonso enjoyed long spells leading the way.

After making his move, there was one final lunge on the penultimate corner where the #99 tried to pull underneath, but Holgado was able to pull away and avoided being slipstreamed over the line to take victory.

Rueda lead from pole in the opening laps before an overtake from David Alonso saw him swallowed by the group. The #96 didn’t panic and fought back, but couldn’t find a way around Holgado’s defensive lines, so crossed the line just 0.044s behind for Red Bull KTM Ajo.

After his surge forward last time out in Qatar a different kind of race was needed from Ivan Ortola. He found his way forward to break into a clear third to complete the podium for MT helmets -MSI.

The rostrum was an all Spanish affair but interestingly there was a complete mix of Pirelli tyre options amongst the frontrunners.

No tyre and no podium for Alonso

After his Qatar win, David Alonso was full of fight and tried to pull away out front when the opportunity came to pass then leader Rueda with ten laps to go.

The Colombian held the lead for five laps, but his push to the front seemed costly as he ran wider lines, breaking in different places to the rest of the pack as he tried to manage the damage done to his tyres to lead.

The CFMoto Aspar rider was fourth as the race drew to a close, but over a second away from Ortola and more than two seconds off the lead duo.

The #80 had his work cut out holding that position too, with pressure all the way from the rest of the lead group.

Alonso just held off Joel Kelso in the run to the line, with the Australian fifth for BOE Motorsports, with Collin Viejer right behind the pair in sixth for Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP.

Stefano Nepa moved to the front of the next group on track and pulled away for a lonely seventh for LevelUp -MTA.

Rookie Joel Esteban was the long term leader of the chasing group. The Aspar rider went on to take eighth.

There was a large gap before David Munoz arrived at the finish on the second BOE entry, with Adrian Fernandez close behind to complete the top ten for Leopard as the top Honda.

Rookie Jacob Roulstone was back in the points in eleventh for Red Bull GasGas, he had Matteo Bertelle for company on track, with the Italian taking twelfth for the Snipers team.

The remaining points went to Tatsuki Suzuki (Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP) in 13th, Vincente Perez in 14th and Scott Ogden, who fought back on the last lap for the final point for the MLav Racing team. His teammate Joshu Whatley was 19th.

Just ahead of him was Qatar podium finisher,Taiyo Furusato, who had a massive downturn in fortunes. After third in Losail, the the Honda Team Asia rider was 18th and over thirty seconds away from the race winner.

Noah Dettwiler had bike issues on the start and was stationary as the lights went out. The CIP Green Power rookie managed to climb to 20th after a horrible start to his race.

Crashes, injuries and replacements

Ryusei Yamanaka was the first faller, collecting Angel Piqueras on the first lap, who picked up a hand fracture in his fall.

Luca Lunetta didn’t last much longer, a carbon copy of his turn five highside from earlier in the weekend ending his hopes. The SIC58 Squadra Corse rider remounted to finish 23rd and last.

Riccardo Rossi was a late faller. The CIP rider had looked as if he had fallen several times in the race before being found on track as his transpoder was faulty before he eventually succumbed to another turn five fall.

Hamad Al Sahouti(22nd) made his debut sitting in for David Almansa at the Snipers team. Almansa is still recovering from the injury to his hand he picked up in practice in the opening round in Qatar.

Xabi Zurutuza is awaiting his birthday to get his rookie season started, so Perez returned again as cover at Red Bull KTM Ajo.

Championship Standings

The championship is only two rounds old, but has already changed hands with Daniel Holgado now the overall leader, with his win in Portugal added the second he took in the first round.

His total of 45 points sees him ahead of David Alonso, who is now second on 38 points, with Ivan Ortola third overall on 23 points.

After a DNF in Lusail, Rueda’s 20 points puts him fifth in the standings, behind Collin Veijer.