Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) was 17th today in free practice for the MotoGP Grand Prix of Portugal, the second race of the season, which will take place this weekend at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve (AIA).
The Portuguese racer set his best time in 1.39,048 minutes, tying exactly with his teammate, the Spaniard Raul Fernandez (Aprilia), and being 0,991 seconds behind the fastest, the Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati). Australian Jack Miller (KTM) was second, at 0,118 seconds, with Spaniard Marc Márquez (Ducati) third, at 0,153.
The Spanish rider suffered a crash at the end of the session, letting the front of his bike slip away, in what was the first crash of the season for the six-time champion.
As for the Portuguese, Oliveira was gaining time in the first three sectors, but would end up losing half a second in the final one, not going beyond 17th place.
Therefore, the Trackhouse team driver will have to go through the first phase of qualifying (Q1), on Saturday, in order to try for one of the two places for Q2, which brings together the 12 best of the 22 drivers on the grid.
In this session, in which the track was already cleaner, after the morning session was affected by sand from the African desert, Jack Miller (KTM), Alex Márquez (Ducati), Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia), as well as Marc Márquez (Ducati), Luca Marini (Honda) and Franco Morbidelli (Ducati).
In addition to the first three classified, Jorge Martin (Ducati), Brad Binder (KTM), Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati), Maverick Viñales (Aprilia), Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), Fábio Quartararo (Yamaha) and Alex go directly to Q2 on Saturday Kidneys (Yamaha).
In this way, Pedro Acosta (GasGas), Fábio Di Giannantonio (Ducati), Alex Márquez (Ducati), Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia), Franco Morbidelli (Ducati), Takaaki Nakagami (Honda), Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia), Raul Fernandez (Aprilia ), Joan Mir (Honda), Johann Zarco (Honda), Augusto Fernandez (GasGas) and Luca Marini (Honda) will have to go through Q1 on Saturday.
In Moto2, Spaniard Alonso Lopez (Speed Up) was the fastest, beating Spaniard Aaron Canet (Fantic) by 0,013 seconds, with North American Joe Roberts (American Racing) in third, at 0,183.
In Moto3, Colombian David Alonso (Aspar) was first, with 0,037 seconds ahead of Australian Joe Kelso (BOE), and 0,679 seconds ahead of Italian Matteo Berttele (Rivacold), who was third.
The Portuguese MotoGP GP is the second of 21 races in the World Speed Championship and will be held until Sunday at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, in Portimão.
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