MotoGP/Portugal: Miguel Oliveira starts fourth and Marc Márquez takes pole

Today will take place the first of the two races of the weekend

The Portuguese Miguel Oliveira today secured fourth place on the MotoGP grid for the Portuguese Grand Prix, which is being held at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, in Portimão, with Spaniard Marc Márquez (Honda) securing the pole position of the opening race of the Speed ​​World Championship.

In his RNF debut, Aprilia's satellite team, Miguel Oliveira, after passing the first qualifying round (Q1), secured fourth place on the starting grid for the two races of the weekend, with a time of 1.37,521 minutes .

In the last attempt, Marc Márquez, six times world champion in the main category, achieved the best time in Q2, in 1.37,226 minutes, breaking the record of the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve and achieving the 64th. pole of his career in MotoGP.

After the difficulties felt the day before, in the first free practices, in which he was outside the top-10, Márquez admitted not knowing what had happened.

“Today was better, let's start from pole position in the afternoon [in the sprint race] and Sunday [in the Grand Prix] and that's important. The race will be very difficult, against the Ducatis, which have a very high pace, but we started at the front, which is already a big advantage”, he said.

In second position on the starting grid will be the world champion, the Italian Pecco Bagnaia (Ducati), who spent 0,064 seconds more than Márquez, with the first line of the starting grid being completed by the Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati) , which spent another 0,228.

The sprint race is still running today, a novelty for the 2023 season of the MotoGP World Championship, which opens in Portimão, with a start scheduled for 15 pm, with the main race taking place on Sunday at 00 pm.

However, Pol Espargaro, who yesterday suffered a violent fall in free practice for the GP of Portugal in MotoGP and had to be taken to Hospital de Faro, will be under observation over the weekend, his team announced.

 

 



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