The Portimão circuit in the Algarve in Portugal is an extremely difficult track to navigate on a MotoGP bike in general. And with the difficult handling on MotoGP 22, it’s even harder on this edition of the game. With all the undulation and successive corners, it’s a real challenge to lap around here consistently.

Unfortunately, there’s no single setup you can find for this track that’ll make it easy to drive. It’s such a tricky circuit to ride on a bike regardless of the setup you use.

Update – I’ve just found a great new generic setup – see our generic setup page for it. It’ll come in handy as a great starter setup to make it easier to ride round tricky tracks like Portugal.

But I did manage to find and then modify one setup that’s relatively easy to control and drive compared to some others (although this track needs a LOT of practice to master and get consistent on).

Here’s the setup for Portugal for MotoGP class bikes:

• Suspension (Front Fork):
  • • Front pre-load – 1
    • Oil Quantity – 2
    • Front Spring Hardness – 2
    • Front Swingarm compression – 4
    • Front Swingarm extension – 1
• Rear Single Shock Absorber:
  • • Rear Pre-load – 4
    • Swingarm connector – 3
    • Rear spring hardness – 2
    • Single shock absorber compression – 3
    • Single shock absorber extension – 6
• Vehicle Geometry:
  • • Steering head inclination – 1
    • Trail – 3
    • Steering plate position – 5
    • Rear swingarm length – 1
• Transmission:
  • • Gears (1-6) – 4-4-5-5-5-5
    • Final ratio – 4
    • Slipper clutch – 1
• Brakes:
  • • Front disc – 340 mm (High Mass)
    • Rear disc – 220 mm
• ECU
  • • Traction control – 3
    • Engine braking – 5
    • Anti-wheelie – 5
    • Power mapping – 2

Race tyres – Front medium; Rear medium

With this track, I’ve gone for a setup with “softer” suspension and geometry settings for more grip, since Portimão has always been a super low grip and circuit and therefore tricky to get around.

Particularly idiosyncratic here and customised to me are the ECU values. Engine braking and Anti-wheelie are both put to 5, and Power mapping is reduced to 2 for easier bike control on the accelerator. Most players don’t do this so experiment with these settings to find what works for you.

Alternative Portimão MotoGP Class Bike Setup

If you prefer bike setups with “harder” suspension and geometry settings, here’s an alternative setup you can use for the Algarve Circuit:

• Suspension (Front Fork):
  • • Front pre-load – 1
    • Oil Quantity – 1
    • Front Spring Hardness – 1
    • Front Swingarm compression – 5
    • Front Swingarm extension – 7
• Rear Single Shock Absorber:
  • • Rear Pre-load – 7
    • Swingarm connector – 4
    • Rear spring hardness – 3
    • Single shock absorber compression – 4
    • Single shock absorber extension – 7
• Vehicle Geometry:
  • • Steering head inclination – 1
    • Trail – 7
    • Steering plate position – 7
    • Rear swingarm length – 4
• Transmission:
  • • Gears (1-6) – 3-4-5-5-5-5
    • Final ratio – 3
    • Slipper clutch – 2
• Brakes:
  • • Front disc – 340 mm (High Mass)
    • Rear disc – 220 mm
• ECU
  • • Traction control – 3
    • Engine braking – 4
    • Anti-wheelie – 4
    • Power mapping – 3

When I tried it, this setup didn’t give me the grip or consistency I wanted, and was slower than the first setup. But everyone has a different riding style so try it out and see if you prefer it to the softer settings above.

Portimão Setup For Moto2 and Moto3 Class Bikes

The slower and less powerful Moto2 and Moto3 class bikes are MUCH easier to control around this track, and so you don’t have to worry quite so much about the setup.

Check out our generic Moto2/Moto3 bike setups, which will offer a good starting point for learning this track. If I find more effective setups for these classes, I’ll add them here as I go along.

Tips For Riding Around Portimão

I think that this track is one of the hardest to consistently get right on the entire game – it’s really easy to over-run many of the corners and the kerbs are pretty unforgiving. But here are some additional tips for riding around Portimão.

Turn 1 – Early turn in is crucial to really nail this corner for lap time. You have to brake super early on MotoGP bikes, and start leaning in earlier than you might think for turn 1. It’s very easy to over-run and your whole lap is ruined, plus it’s easy to fall off once you’re on the run-off area.

Turn 5 – This is the sharp left hand hairpin after the small back straight. As with turn 1, you need to brake super early for this corner, firstly because it’s a very sharp turn, and second it’s easy to lean over too much trying to make the corner and fall off. Leave yourself plenty of wriggle room by braking super early – start thinking about slowing down even halfway along the back straight that leads onto it.

Turns 10/11 – These are the two right handers before you plunge downhill for the last few turns. When learning the track, I’d ignore the racing line here and stay in the middle of the track before turning in for them. The Ideal Trajectory line takes you too close to the kerbs and it’s easy to clip them and fall off.

Kerbs – Avoid the kerbs here like the plague; they’re lethal. Even clipping them on a MotoGP bike can send you off. Moto2 and Moto3 bikes are slightly more forgiving but still give the kerbs a wide berth.

Patience – You have to be super patient and reserved on the throttle here to get around a lap. You’re only on it for any length of time on the pit straight, and a little bit on the back straight. After sector 1, you’re actually barely on the throttle at all the rest of the lap, until you get back round to finish the lap. For sectors 2 and 3, it’s mostly just dabs or very short squirts on the accelerator to get ready for the next corner. Don’t over-do it on the accelerator or you’ll very easily over-run corners here and then you’re screwed. See here for a video of someone riding very well around Portimão, but even he sometimes struggles with turn 1.

Wheelies – Because of the all the undulations on this track, there a few exits where the front end of the bike always wants to come up, even with Anti-Wheelie set to maximum (5) and enabling the Ride Height Device (RHD). Manage this as best you can by being cautious and progressive on the accelerator out of uphill or downhill corner exits.