The Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) finished seventh today in the first day of free practice for the MotoGP Spanish Grand Prix, the fourth race of the World Speed Championship.
Oliveira, who had been 13th in the first of the two sessions of the day, closed the afternoon session in fifth position, 0.248 seconds behind the fastest Spanish Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia).
However, in the sum of the two sessions, the record of 1.36.896 seconds earns him seventh place and direct entry to the second qualifying phase, Q2, which will be held on Saturday morning.
The Spanish Maverick Viñales (Aprilia) was the second fastest of the day, just two thousandths of a second, with the Spanish Dani Pedrosa (KTM), who is participating in the Spanish GP as a guest, being third with 0.062 seconds.
The afternoon session was marked by a red flag caused by the fall of the Spanish Iker Lecuona (Honda) -replacing the injured Marc Márquez this weekend-, which damaged the protection barrier.
Outside of the places with direct access to Q2 were riders like the Italian Marco Bezzecchi (Ducati), championship leader, who was only 12th, or the Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), title champion, who was 13th.
On Saturday the third free practice session will be held, as well as the two qualifying sessions and the sprint race.
Source: TSF
