The 2019 season has officially started with the first two free practice sessions held today at the Losail International Circuit, in Qatar.
The Losail International Circuit is the first round of the MotoGP World Championship, which will happen this weekend. Located about 30 km from Doha, the Qatar Grand Prix is without a doubt one of the most extraordinary events on the MotoGP calendar.
Rookie Miguel Oliveira showed some promising potential on his first day aboard the KTM RC16, finishing in the top 20, having improved his time by 0.426s from the first to the second session of practices. The rider finished ahead of his team-mate, Hafizh Syahrin, in both free practices.
The first practice session took place in the morning, where the portuguese rider made his best time in minute 1:56.061, closing the time table in the eighteenth position, only 1m013s behind first-place finisher Valentino Rossi.
In the evening session, Miguel Oliveira managed to improve his morning times, reaching his best time of 1'55.635s, 2'255s of first-place finisher Marc Marquez.
In the combined time table (FP1 + FP2) he achieved the 20th best time.
“Today was quite tricky at the end. We knew that FP2 was going to be important and everyone was pushing to get a fast lap but finally, we couldn’t take out the full profit of the tyre we had. We are trying to understand what we can improve on the bike to gain more drive out of the corners, which seems to be the thing, that is holding us back more. But I trust that tomorrow we still can do a good FP3 and maybe be a little bit more in front. For sure, we are far from Q2, but we are going to try the maximum to be closer.” Miguel Oliveira
The qualifying for the first grand prix of the season takes place tomorrow, saturday, with Miguel Oliveira's FP3 scheduled to start at 12:15 pm. Qualifications of the premier class are set at 5:00 p.m.
Results – Combined Training (FP1 + FP2)
1. M. Marquez (Honda) with 1min53,380s
2. M. Viñales (Yamaha) with 1min53.854s + 0.474s
3. J.Miller (Ducati) with 1min53.908s + 0.528s
4. D. Petrucci (Ducati) with 1min54.053s + 0.673s
5. F. Quartararo (Yamaha) with 1min54.154s + 0.774s
20. Miguel Oliveira (KTM) with 1min55.635s + 2.255s
