MotoGP | Quartararo takes dominant win in Portugal, SA's Binder crashes out on lap 19

• Factory Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo dominated the first European race of the 2022 MotoGP season.

• SA's Brad Binder crashed out on lap 19.

• Quartararo and Alex Rins are in joint first place in the World Championship standings.

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This weekend, the MotoGP calendar returned to Europe and the Algarve International Circuit in Portugal after a trio of flyaway races. The undulating Portimao circuit delivered close battles throughout the field. 

Factory Yamaha rider Fabio Quartararo, who became the fourth race winner in the first four races of the 2022 season, dominated the race.

South Africa's Brad Binder qualified in 12th aboard his Red Bull KTM. A less than ideal start saw Binder drop to 16th before recovering to 14th at the end of the first lap. He fought his way up to 11th before crashing out on lap 19.

Brother Darryn Binder managed 16th place, which his best dry race finish in his rookie MotoGP season to date.

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Slow build-up

Saturday's qualifying saw Johann Zarco start in pole position ahead of Suzuki's Joan Mir and Aleix Espargaro aboard the Factory Aprilia.

Joan Mir led after the first lap ahead of Fabio Quartararo, Jack Miller and Johann Zarco. Zarco was able to get past Miller early on, and the quartet ran in that order for the first half of the race.

Mir and Quartararo slowly built up a lead of approximately a second over the chasing pack until Quartararo took the lead on lap four. Quartararo preceded to set the fastest lap after fastest lap and built a lead of 2.0 seconds by