Located in the northern province of Santiago del Estero, the Thermas de Río Hondo Circuit is the stage of the MotoGP World Championship second round this weekend.
After two weeks, today started the second grand prix of the 2019 season, with the first two sessions of free practices.
During the first practice session, the portuguese rider made his best time in the minute 1'41.513, closing the time table in the sixteenth position, 1'686s of the first classified, Marc Marquez.
From the beginning of training, Miguel Oliveira impressed with his fast times around the Argentine circuit. The rookie of the premier class dropped his best time in 1.507 seconds between FP1 and FP2, eventually losing provisional Q2 positions only by just 0.377 seconds.
"Today was a good day and we managed to improve a lot between FP1 and FP2. We did a fantastic job and I felt comfortable on the bike, which allowed us to have a good pace in the second practice session. We are still working to improve the fact that with a new tire we do not feel as much traction as with others, so there are details to keep in mind to be as competitive as possible. I felt with a good pace for the race and with the bike in general, I always had many good times with the average tire behind and just lacked a little more performance with the new tire behind, the soft, which was what hold us a bit to our final position today. Overall, I'm very happy with the end result of today and with my pace and driving. The goal is to continue to improve every day, as it was done today." Miguel Oliveira
Qualifying for the second round of the season takes place tomorrow, Saturday, with Miguel Oliveira's first qualifying scheduled for 1:50. Qualifications for the premier class are set at 6:05 p.m.
Results – Combined Training (FP1 + FP2):
1. A. Dovizioso (Ducati) with 1min39.181s
2. J. Miller (Ducati) with 1min39,190s
3. M. Viñales (Yamaha) with 1min39.345s
4. C. Crutchlow (Honda) with 1min39.346s
5. F. Quartararo (Yamaha) with 1min39.357s
19. M. Oliveira (KTM) with 1min40.006s
