24th - 26th March 2023

Grand Prix of Portugal 2023 - Event recap

We were delighted when it was announced the event at Portimão was here to stay! Beautiful destination, lovely friendly country. The circuit is gorgeous - spring for the Tower VIP with stunning views. This has to be on your "must visit" list!


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Event review - Grand Prix of Portugal 2023

What a GREAT venue to open the MotoGP 2023 season!

Perfect weather in a beautiful environment, at one of the best tracks in the sport, Portimao is a stunner.

Indeed, the event was so popular we sold out of our first two packages by early January and added a third -- and happy we did as the new 4* Superior hotel we used at the beach in Portimao rivalled the boutique 5* and our much loved 4* resort. So we were happy to bring a group of 70 packaged guests on tour for the inaugural 2023 round!

Thursday our traditional 'happy hour' was in two locations : a classic Irish pub in the vibrant heart of Portimao; and the poolside bar of Vitor's plaza. The Vitor's guests were further honoured by the appearance of our newly supported Red Bull Rookie rider Eddie O'Shea from England.

We got underway properly Friday, meeting our Team Guests for the first time. Our partner teams Gresini MotoGP and VisionTrack Moto3 using their updated hospitality facilities for the first time in 2023. Friday is the best time to utilise the track access fro both teams - most clients got an opportunity to visit the trackside during a session to see the action up close!

However the star of the weekend turned out to be the new VIP Tower. We have used this facility for Superbikes and described it as the best view of any circuit. However in SBK it is merely a great viewing platform; in MotoGP for the first time it was offered as a full VIP facility. And it was AWESOME! Reserved seats and tables, superb food, beer & wine, great service and the aforementioned views make this IMHO the best MotoGP hospitality we have experienced in 20 years! Some customers even paired this with our Moto3 Team experience -- the super convenient tunnel connecting the tower to the paddock made this a perfect combination! If you come back to Portimao this is where you want to book!

Friday night we hosted our opening dinner. With 70 people and several guest speakers we took over a local rural restaurant for the perfect setting. Our first guest was for MotoGP and SBK rider Eugene Laverty. It turns out Eugene's new home is about 100m from the restaurant! Eugene shared some of his new experiences in managing a SBK team, and of course we were able reminisce about the od days and the changes MotoGP and SBK have seen in the past 15 years (since we have known Eugene. We also sponsored him in his last two years in MotoGP). As if one Irishman wasn't enough, he was joined by veteran journalist Simon Patterson who shared his blarney with the group! Sion is a wonderful speaker as he is unafraid to tell it like it is --- and is no stranger to controversy! We loved it! (But can't report his comments here! :-)

We closed the night with an auction of special merchandise in benefit of Two Wheels for Life our partner charity, raising about €2000 to help them in their quest to provide moto-based health care in remote Africa.

The less said about our beer bill the better...

Saturday was a perfect day, and the new schedule threw a spanner into our usual way of doing things -- the MotoGP qualifiers happened while the VIPs were queued up for nearly 45 minutes waiting for the pit lane walk! We have reported the problems to Dorna and hope they wil be resolved in the future.

And then the sprint race happened... It has to be said that we have been pretty much against the sprint race since it was announced -- seeing it as an unneeded risk and a disruption to the orderly progress to the climatic Sunday race. Losing the FP4 session makes it quite difficult and stressful for teams and riders.
However the race itself was brilliant -- great viewing from the tower and superb action. Unfortunately 5 crashes, one leaving Basianini out of the Sunday race, showed the downside to the sprints. We really hope they can manage to keep these exciting events without the collateral damage in the future.

Saturday evening was a free evening for most guests -- Portimao was rocking! Many of our team guests remained at the track for our MotoGP night. We featured the 'returned from retiral' veteran journalist Manuel Pecino who helped us understand some of the dynamics at play this weekend. Dinners at Gresini and LCR Honda were superb as usual. Lucio Cecchinello, the founder and boss of LCR Honda was gracious enough to join us briefly!

Sunday was a perfect day both on and off track. Super exciting to see how the riders were shaking out for the new season. In MotoGP Pecco made it a double after winning the sprint race and the main GP; but very happy to see Vinales come back to the front of the pack and on the podium and VR46 showing very strong putting Marco Bezzechi 3rd on the podium after his disappointing crash in the sprint race.

IN Moto2, Acosta proved what everyone was expecting, winning the race; but for us our hero was Czech Filip Salac. Taking his first Pole Position, and riding for our team Gresini, the only Czech remaining in the sport was looking very strong taking 4th. Moto3 was the usual axle-to-axle action, frequently the most thrilling race of the weekend.

Of course even it was blown away by the excitement of both Red Bull Rookies races! These kids seem to be made of rubber... Sadly Eddie crashed out of Race 1; and had to retire owing to injuries in Race 2; but we expect him to bounce back. Top marks to our other supported rider South African Roche Moodley, who qualified P2, bagging 8 points in race 1; but unfortunately rashed while leading Race 2. We are expecting great things from him this year!

Sunday closed with our usual ad-hoc group dinners: one in Vitor's fueled by much beer! and a small group in the wilds of Portimao.

This has to be one of our favourite venues in MotoGP -- come back next year! And also consider the Superbike in October! Always our biggest SBK!


 

Picture gallery - Grand Prix of Portugal 2023

See our photos of the event on Flickr here Or check out ALL of our past event galleries here
portimao23-100 portimao23-101 portimao23-102 Wednesday Drinks (and impromptu karaoke!) Entrance to Algarve Circuit portimao23-105 Eddie O portimao23-107 Pit Lane on Thursday portimao23-109 portimao23-110 Darryn Binder (Moto2 Rider) and Harvey Sean Dylan Kelly (Moto2 Rider) and Gordon portimao23-113 Pit Lane on Thursday Stunning Algarve Circuit! portimao23-116 portimao23-117 portimao23-118 portimao23-119 portimao23-120 portimao23-121 Welccome drinks - Vitors Welccome drinks - Vitors Welccome drinks - Vitors Welccome drinks - Vitors VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower Algarve Circuit - Turn 15 Algarve Circuit - Turn 15 portimao23-131 Friday Service Road Tour During MotoGP Practice 1 portimao23-133 portimao23-134 VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower Team experience guests on track Friday Service Road Tour During Moto3 Free Practice 2 Friday Service Road Tour During Moto3 Free Practice 2 Friday Service Road Tour During Moto3 Free Practice 2 Friday Service Road Tour During Moto3 Free Practice 2 VIP Tower Friday Service Road Tour During Moto3 Free Practice 2 portimao23-146 portimao23-147 portimao23-148 portimao23-149 portimao23-150 portimao23-151 portimao23-152 portimao23-154 portimao23-155 portimao23-156 portimao23-157 portimao23-158 portimao23-159 portimao23-160 portimao23-161 portimao23-162 portimao23-163 Friday Opening Dinner Auction portimao23-165 portimao23-166 portimao23-167 portimao23-168 Friday welcome dinner Friday welcome dinner Friday welcome dinner Friday welcome dinner Friday welcome dinner Friday welcome dinner Friday welcome dinner Friday welcome dinner portimao23-177 Friday welcome dinner Friday welcome dinner Friday welcome dinner Friday welcome dinner Friday welcome dinner Friday welcome dinner Friday welcome dinner Friday welcome dinner Friday welcome dinner Friday welcome dinner Friday welcome dinner Friday welcome dinner Friday welcome dinner portimao23-191 portimao23-192 portimao23-193 portimao23-194 portimao23-195 portimao23-196 portimao23-197 Pit lane walk portimao23-199 portimao23-200 portimao23-201 portimao23-202 Pit lane walk Pit lane walk portimao23-205 Pit lane walk Pit lane walk portimao23-208 portimao23-209 VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower SAG Team Garage Visit During Saturday SAG Team Garage Visit During Saturday VisionTrack Team Garage Tour portimao23-219 portimao23-220 VisionTrack Team Garage Tour VisionTrack Team Garage Tour VisionTrack Team Garage Tour portimao23-224 portimao23-225 portimao23-226 portimao23-227 portimao23-228 portimao23-229 portimao23-230 portimao23-231 portimao23-232 portimao23-233 portimao23-234 portimao23-235 portimao23-236 portimao23-237 portimao23-238 portimao23-239 VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower MotoGP Night portimao23-254 portimao23-255 portimao23-256 MotoGP Night portimao23-258 MotoGP Night MotoGP Night MotoGP Night portimao23-262 MotoGP Night portimao23-264 portimao23-265 Sunday Warmup in LCR Warmup in LCR Warmup in LCR portimao23-270 portimao23-271 portimao23-272 portimao23-273 portimao23-274 portimao23-275 portimao23-276 portimao23-277 VIP Tower portimao23-279 portimao23-280 VIP Tower VIP Tower Sunday VIP Tower VIP Tower Sunday Sunday VIP Tower VIP Tower Sunday VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower VIP Tower MotoGP Podium portimao23-300 MotoGP Podium MotoGP Podium MotoGP Podium MotoGP Podium MotoGP Podium MotoGP Podium MotoGP Podium MotoGP Podium MotoGP Podium MotoGP Podium MotoGP Podium MotoGP Podium Wind down drinks Wind down drinks Wind down drinks Wind down drinks portimao23-317 Closing drinks Closing drinks Closing drinks Closing drinks Closing drinks portimao23-326 portimao23-325 portimao23-324 Eugene Laverty