The Portuguese Miguel Oliveira (Yamaha) failed this Friday, November 7th, to qualify directly for the second phase of qualifying for the MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix, the 21st and penultimate race of the year, which will take place until Sunday in Portimão.
At the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve (AIA), the Portuguese rider was 22nd and last in today’s afternoon timed training session, finishing the day 1.907 seconds behind the fastest, Spaniard Alex Márquez (Ducati).
The already runner-up in the world beat the Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) by just 0.030 seconds, with the Spaniard Pedro Acosta (KTM) in third, at 0.088.
By finishing outside the top 10 positions, Miguel Oliveira will compete in Q1, the first phase of the qualifying session, on Saturday, which qualifies the best two for Q2, who join the top 10 in today’s timed training sessions.
Alex Márquez, who already secured second place in the World Championship, behind his brother Marc, already champion and absent from this race due to injury, was the only one to drop from second ’38’, completing the best lap in 01.37.974 minutes.
During the afternoon there were some showers, which affected the Moto3 and Moto2 sessions, held previously, which lowered the temperature of the asphalt.
This ended up interfering with the performance of the Yamahas, who all failed to make it directly to Q2, with Frenchman Fábio Quartararo in 14th place, Australian Jack Miller, who had been third in the free practice sessions held in the morning, in 16th and Spaniard Alex Rins in 18th.
Note the 17th place of Italian Niccolò Bulega (Ducati), vice-world Superbike champion, substitute in this round for the injured Marc Márquez (Ducati), who has already secured the seventh world title of his career since the Japanese Grand Prix.
In Moto2, the rain appeared around 12 minutes before the end of the session and Spaniard Aaron Canet (Fantic) was once again the fastest, just like in the morning, beating Briton Jake Dixon (Marc VDS) by 0.192 seconds, with Spaniard Albert Arenas (Gresini) in third, at 0.448.
In the Moto3 category, Spaniard David Almansa (Leopard) was the fastest, leaving Japanese Tayio Furusato (Honda) in second place, at 0.135 seconds, with Spaniard Máximo Quiles (Gaviota) in third, at 0.239.
On Saturday, the qualifying sessions for all categories and the MotoGP sprint race will take place.