Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira (KTM) qualified this Saturday in eighth position for the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix, the 16th of 20 races of the season, despite a crash suffered in the final minutes.
The Portuguese driver of the Austrian brand has set his best lap in 1.55.895 minutes, finishing 0.681 seconds behind the fastest, the Spanish Marc Márquez (Honda).
Frenchman Johann Zarco (Ducati) was second with 0.208 seconds, and South African Brad Binder (KTM) third with 0.323 seconds.
Miguel Oliveira thus leaves the third row of the starting grid, after having suffered a crash with three minutes remaining in a session that was marred by rain, which caused a delay of more than an hour and had already forced to cancel the third free practice session, during the night.
The crash of the Portuguese rider occurred in the third sector of the track, at a time when his times were improving.
At the end of the 15 minutes of this second qualifying phase (Q2), Oliveira was fourth.
However, several riders were still halfway through the final flying lap and Almada’s rider ended up being overtaken by Spaniard Jorge Martín (Ducati), Brad Binder and Spaniards on Aprilia Aleix Espargaró and Maverick Viñales.
Pole position was won by Marc Márquez 1071 days after he was the fastest in qualifying in a MotoGP World Championship, precisely at the 2019 Japanese GP.
“I’m very happy with pole position. This morning I felt very strong on the wet track and I decided to give it a try. It’s very important for us and for the future. Tomorrow, with the dry surface, it will be different.” history”, underlined the Spanish rider, who has already been world champion eight times.
The rain that hit the Motegi circuit was a headache for the riders and the organization, which was forced to interrupt Moto2 qualifying with nine minutes to go and cancel the third MotoGP free practice session.
The action on the track only resumed more than an hour later, with the wet track causing several falls, including that of the Portuguese KTM rider, who went off the asphalt without physical consequences.
Johann Zarco’s Ducati was the fastest today, clocking 302 kilometers per hour, losing Oliveira’s KTM by 30 kilometers per hour in a straight line (the top speed reached by the Portuguese was 270 kilometers per hour). Luca Marini’s Ducati was the slowest, reaching no more than 255.9 kilometers per hour, leaving the Italian in 10th place.
The champion and leader of the championship, the French Fábio Quartararo (Yamaha) was placed ninth, behind Miguel Oliveira, while the second place of the World Cup, the Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) was the 12th and last of this Q2 , which brings together the 10 fastest in free practice and the two best in Q1.
Already the Italian Enea Bastianini (Ducati), winner of the previous test, in Aragon, stayed for Q1, where he suffered a fall, without physical consequences.
Source: TSF
