In the first race of the Asian stage of the second half of the MotoGP World Championship, Miguel Oliveira shone in Japan, with the Portuguese finishing the Japanese race in Motegi in fifth position, in what was his second race on the Japanese circuit in the queen stage of motorcycling ( was 12th in 2019, in its debut in the category).
Unlike Saturday, when we had a day with excessive rain, which caused, for example, the cancellation of FP3, the Sun returned to the Motegi circuit on Sunday.
On the starting grid in eighth position, and after showing his frustration with his KTM at the Aragon GP last week, Miguel Oliveira made a cannon start and ended the first lap in fourth place, behind Brad Binder and ahead of Marc Marquez, who had achieved pole position.
With hard tires at the front and back, Hawk put the pressure on and, on the 20th lap, overtook his teammate, occupying a place in the race that he had not had in the World Cup for a long time.
Binder's response, who started from third place on the starting grid, came four laps later, with Oliveira being overtaken by the South African, at a time when Jack Miller and Jorge Martin increased their advantage in the fight for victory.
Despite the pressure from Falcão, Binder managed to hold the position, with Miguel Oliveira being forced to keep his place in the final five laps due to Marquez's attack, who overtook the Portuguese on the 21st lap.
With the riders looking for positions in the final two laps, Luca Marini even passed Miguel Oliveira on the last lap, but Hawk responded immediately and secured fifth position brilliantly, while his teammate finished in second position after overtaking Jorge Martin on the penultimate lap. The triumph went to Jack Miller, the sixth driver to win a race in 2022.
Top 10:
Jack Miller, 42m29s174
Brad Binder, +3s409
Jorge Martin, 4s136
Marc Marquez, +7s784
MIGUEL OLIVEIRA, +8s185
Luca Marini, 8s348
Maverick Vinales, 9s879
Fabio Quartararo, 10s193
Enea Bastianini, 10s318
Marco Bezzacchi, 16s419
With the fifth place, Hawk repeats the classification of the GP Portugal, his best classification of the year if we exclude the triumph in the GP of Indonesia, second stage of the World. At the Worlds, Miguel Oliveira occupies the 11th position, with two points less than Alex Rins.
The MotoGP caravan is now traveling to Thailand, with the Chang International Circuit hosting the 17th round of the World Championship next Sunday, October 2nd.
Thailand GP schedule:
Friday, September 30th:
FP1: 4h50-5h35
FP2: 9:05 am to 9:50 am
Saturday, October 1:
FP3: 4h50-5h35
FP4: 8:25-8:55
Q1: 9:05 am to 9:20 am
Q2: 9:30 am to 9:45 am
Sunday, October 2:
WUP: 4h40-5h00
Race: 9:00 am
