Miguel Oliveira finished the first two free practice sessions of the Australian Grand Prix, at the Phillip Island circuit, in the Top 15, more specifically in 11th position, which makes Falcão give everything in FP3 with the aim of achieving qualifying for Q2. Saturday promises…
In a dry session, despite the rain that fell on Phillip Island in the previous days and even this Friday, Miguel Oliveira took advantage of the first free practice session to feel the bike, as he himself admitted in the preview press conference. of the Australian Grand Prix on Friday morning in Portugal.
For example, the first outing of FP1 was longer than usual, with Falcão returning to the pits after several laps of the circuit, which, as usual, presented a colder temperature than we normally have in the rest of the calendar, including the asphalt, which had about 22º C.
The Portuguese, as well as the rest of the field, started with a soft tire at the front and a medium tire at the back and, with about 2m30 to go in the session, he was in a modest 16th place, in a clear demonstration that the strategy in the first session of free practice was definitely not guaranteeing a good position on the grid, quite the opposite. In the end, Miguel Oliveira took 18th place, with a time of 1m31s950 (the best time of the session was by Johann Zarco, with 1m30s368).
In FP2, as was to be expected, Miguel Oliveira immediately improved his time and, in the first few laps, recorded 1m30s794, occupying the 14th best time, a position he occupied during most of the second session, dropping one place when there were about 15 minutes for the end of the day's work (at least on the track…).
With 6 minutes to go, Miguel Oliveira was in 17th place, two positions ahead of his teammate, Brad Binder. However, in the time attack, the Portuguese, with a medium in front and a soft in the back, recovered and ended up finishing the day with a record of 1m29s923, 11th best time of the day.
In total, the Portuguese performed 20 laps (only four more riders rode more), with the 19th being the only one in the 1m29 range. As happened in FP1, the best time was reached by Johann Zarco, with 1m29s475.
With this result, Miguel Oliveira was at the door of Q2, which means that Falcão has to attack everything in FP3.
Australian Grand Prix Schedule:
Friday, October 14th
FP3 – 23:55-00:40
Saturday, October 15th
FP4 – 03:30-04:00
Q1 – 04:10-04:25
Q2 – 04:35-04:50
WUP – 23:40-00:00
Sunday, October 16
Race – 04:00
