This race came down to an Yamaha intra-team duel as 2011 world-champion elect Lorenzo and Ducati-bound Valentino Rossi, clearly ahead of the field from the outset, after Rossi had dominated the first half of the race, even building up a 1.8 sec. lead at one point.

Lorenzo put his head down in the second half of the race, passing Rossi on lap 17 and pulling away to a clear 8.6 sec. margin at the flag. Rossi claimed after the race that he suffered from set-up problems that slowed the bike in the second half of the race. I suspect that he was not running at full pace and setting up Lorenzo for 2011, when he will be aboard a hard-to-figure out Ducati and will have to deal with Lorenzo on his Yamaha, the best race bike in MotoGP right now (largely due to Rossi’s development work). If and how that will change next year, and how Casey Stoner will fare on the quick Honda, with technical support from Honda but political interference from the Spanish Repsol Honda team promises to be a great show.

Now back to this year and this race, as Ducati's Nicky Hayden, who had inherited the third spot after another Casey Stoner crash as he was chasing Lorenzo, was passed by Honda riders Marco Simoncelli and Andrea Dovizioso. The two Italians then fought over third place, with Dovizioso winning the last-corner battle and third place by just 0.059s at the line.

MotoGP Portugese Grand Prix Results
Pos Rider Brand Time/Gap
1. Jorge Lorenzo Yamaha 46m17.962s
2. Valentino Rossi Yamaha + 8.629s
3. Andrea Dovizioso Honda + 26.475s
4. Marco Simoncelli Honda + 26.534s
5. Nicky Hayden Ducati + 27.154s
6. Randy de Puniet Honda + 28.297s
7. Colin Edwards Yamaha + 30.109s
8. Dani Pedrosa Honda + 44.947s
9. Marco Melandri Honda + 1m13.649s
10. Hector Barbera Ducati + 1m17.721s
11. Alvaro Bautista Suzuki + 1m17.908s
12. Hiroshi Aoyama Honda + 1m33.025s
13. Loris Capirossi Suzuki + 1m39.752s

Retirements:

Carlos Checa Ducati 12 laps
Casey Stoner Ducati 4 laps
Aleix Espargaro Ducati 0 laps
Ben Spies Yamaha DNS

MotoGP Standings – With 1 round to go

Pos. Rider Team Points
1. Jorge Lorenzo Fiat Yamaha 358
2. Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda 236
3. Valentino Rossi Fiat Yamaha 217
4. Casey Stoner Ducati Marlboro 205
5. Andrea Dovizioso Repsol Honda 195