Miguel Oliveira will start from the seventeenth position in what is his first grand prix in the premier class of the MotoGP World Championship.
On this windy and intense qualifying saturday, the day started at the Losail International Circuit with the first free practices of the day, in which the portuguese rider won an amazing tenth place, being one of only three riders to improve his best time compared to FP2. In the third free practice session, Miguel Oliveira had his best time in minute 1: 55.557, just +0.880 of first-place finisher Marc Marquez.
The Red Bull KTM Tech3 rookie improved in every session and performed well in what was his first ever qualifying in the premier class.
The fourth session of free practice was marked by a slower pace by the Almada driver, who managed to reach the sixteenth place of the session, when he made his best time in minute 1: 56.011, +1.157 of Danilo Petrucci, the first classified.
After finishing Q1 in seventh position, followed by Rossi, Lorenzo and Espargaro, Miguel Oliveira will start tomorrow’s race from the 6th line of the starting grid.
"It was my intention to improve my lap time, but on the last exit there was a bit of confusion with the riders in front and that did not allow me to make a clean lap to the maximum. I'm a bit disappointed with that, however, I'm also quite happy to start tomorrow’s race from the sixth line of the starting grid! I think it's a good start for our first race as we get close to our first goal, which is ending up the race inside the points. Let's wait for tomorrow." Miguel Oliveira
The first MotoGP round of the 2019 season is scheduled to start tomorrow, Sunday, at 17.00 CET.
Qualifying Results:
1. M. Viñales (Yamaha) 1: 53.546
2. A. Dovizioso (Ducati) 1: 53,744 +0.198
3. M. Marquez (Honda) 1: 53,745 +0.199
4. J. Miller (Ducati) 1: 53,809 +0.263
5. F. Quartararo (Yamaha) 1: 53,946 +0.400
17. M. Oliveira (KTM) 1: 55,122 +0.852
