The Portuguese Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) abandoned this Saturday the sprint race of the MotoGP Qatar Grand Prix, the penultimate round of the championship, due to a fall suffered in the first lap that caused a fracture in his right shoulder blade and he is out of the race. . main race.
The national athlete “was declared unfit” and transferred to the hospital for “complementary examinations,” MotoGP announced on its official account on the social network X.
Oliveira, who started from 17th position, was involved in a crash with the Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati) and the Spanish Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia), when he was already in 11th position.
The Spanish Jorge Martín (DucatiI) won and recovered seven points in the fight for the title, leaving the Italian Fábio Di Giannantonio (Ducati) in second position, 0.391 seconds away, and the Italian Luca Marini (Ducati), third, 3.370 seconds away .
The Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), leader of the championship and who had a chance to become champion here in Qatar, was only fifth and saw Martin stay just seven points behind, postponing the title decision for the next round, the last. in Valencia.
The two had a fierce duel in the first two laps, with touches between them. First Bagnaia, with a prompt response from Martín.
“I knew I had the potential to win, but you never know. I went wide in a corner, but I managed to recover, even managing the rear tire. Winning today was super important,” highlighted the Madrid driver, who won the sprint for the eighth time this year. anus.
As for Miguel Oliveira, this is the tenth retirement of the season in 19 Grand Prix, between sprint and main race, and the sixth due to a fall.
With these results, Bagnaia maintains the lead in the championship, with 417 points, compared to Martín’s 410.
Even if he wins Sunday’s feature race and gets 25 points and Martin misses, the best he can do is stay 32 behind, when there will still be 37 up for grabs in the final race a week from now. time.
Miguel Oliveira maintained 16th place, with 76 points.
The main race takes place on Sunday.
Source: TSF
