The Yamaha rider passed early leader Joan Mir on the fourth lap and romped to a crucial first win of a so far difficult season, having failed to win a race since Silverstone last year.
Mir streaked away off the line from second on the grid to lead a race for the first time since his title-winning season in 2020, while Quartararo leaped from fifth to third.
Between the two champions was Pramac poleman Johann Zarco, but Quartararo took second into the Turn 3 right-hander as Mir pulled around six tenths clear at the front.
Quartararo was soon within striking distance, making his move into Turn 1 on the fourth tour having nailed his run out of the sweeping downhill final corner and taken profit of the Suzuki’s tow.
Zarco was briefly shoved back to fifth by factory Ducati counterpart Jack Miller and the LCR Honda of Alex Marquez – though he quickly got back into the podium places by the end of the second lap.
Joan Mir, Team Suzuki MotoGP
Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
The Frenchman finished in second place, having passed Mir on lap 17 and leaving the Suzuki man to fend off fourth-placed Jack Miller.
But the pair collided on lap 19, with Miller losing the front of his Ducati under braking and wiping out Mir.
This promoted Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro up to third, with the Argentina winner now third in the championship standings with 66 points behind Quartararo and Suzuki’s Alex Rins, both on 69.
Rins qualified in 23rd after making a strategy error in the wet-to-dry Q1 session, but rocketed to 11th on the opening lap and marched his way through the bottom half of the top 10 before finishing fourth.
Home hero Miguel Oliveira completed the top five on his factory KTM, with Marc Marquez beating his brother Alex Marquez by 0.020s across the line after the pair engaged in a heated battle for sixth in the closing stages.
The six-time world champion had a similarly tight battle with team-mate Pol Espargaro in the early stages, but came out on top, while…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Autosport.com – All – Stories…