The Frenchman is 17 points behind the surprise leader of the championship, the Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati-Gresini).

His results are irregular with a 2nd place in Indonesia but only a 7th at the last GP of the Americas after an 8th in Argentina.

However, the circuit laid out at the foot of the Algarve hills suits him well.

Easy winner last year, he intends to do it again this year, especially since his Yamaha suffers less from its lack of top speed on this circuit with its steepness and bends.

"In Portimao I want to fight for the podium and when I came here in April last year I won," recalls 'El Diablo'.

"I want to drive like that again, the goal is always to be first and do the best we can," he said as the paddock reported tensions between him and his team over the lack of performance of his Yamaha.

Motorcycles from Japanese brands seem to have stalled since the start of the season.

Dominating the MotoGP scene for almost fifteen years and winning the title of Casey Stoner (Ducati) in 2007, three European brands won the first four events of the season: two victories for the Italians of Ducati, one for those of Aprilia and one for the Austrian KTM.

Fabio Quartararo on his Yamaha M1 on April 10 in Austin, Texas in the United States Mirco Lazzari gp GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/Archives

For this first European race of the season, KTM can count on the local of the stage, Miguel Oliveira, winner in Portimao in 2020 and this year in Indonesia.

But with KTM it's often all or nothing and Oliveira is only 9th in the provisional championship standings, behind his South African teammate Brad Binder, 6th.

- The customer is king at Ducati -

On the Ducati side, the factory team with the Italian Francesco Bagnaia and the Australian Jack Miller is marking time a little at the start of the season and it is the customer team Gresini which is ahead of it with the two successes of Bastianini.

A revelation from the start of the year, the 24-year-old Italian made his MotoGP debut last year, crowned with a Moto2 title in 2020. He is ahead of Spaniard Alex Rins (Suzuki) by five points in the championship and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) of 11 units.

Italian rider Enea Bastianini on his Ducati during the Argentine GP practice session on April 2, 2022 at the Termas de Rio Hondo ciruicuit JUAN MABROMATA AFP/Archives

As the European part of the season opens, Bastianini admitted Thursday in Portimao that if he expected to approach him in the first of the classification, he did not think "to arrive at the top for the first European race".

But he feels that it will be difficult for him to keep the lead, as the weekend promises to be more difficult with the wind and also the rain expected on Friday for practice and Saturday for qualifying.

On the strength of a second place last year in Portugal, Bagnaia wants to make up for a difficult start to the season, placing him in a distant 12th place in the championship, of which he nevertheless started as one of the favourites.

"I find my feelings that I had on my bike" last year, assures the Turinese, stressing however that he lacked top speed at the last GP of the Americas, finished in 5th position.

On the Japanese side, Suzuki seems the best armed with Rins and his compatriot Joan Mir, 2020 world champion and 4th in the championship, 15 points behind Bastianini.

But the blue machines are still looking for a win this season.

Spaniard Joan Mir on the Suzuki GSX-RR during testing for the Argentine GP at Rio Hondo Thermal Baths on April 2, 2022 JUAN MABROMATA AFP/Archives

At Honda, Marc Marquez showed Austin that he was back in full control with an impressive comeback after a failed start.

"The goal was to regain confidence and we achieved that," he said on Thursday.

The six-time world champion had to skip the GPs of Indonesia and Argentina following a heavy crash and intends to show that he can still win.

Portimao is a track "where you have to find the rhythm" to be fast, assures the Spanish champion.

Another candidate for victory, Aprilia, which finally seems to have found the recipe to get out of the back of the peloton with the first victory of the Spaniard Aleix Espargaro in Argentina.

© 2022 AFP