MotoGP: Oliveira on pole at home as Mir struggles to 20th

Qualifying for the final round of the 2020 MotoGP World Championship took place in Portimao for the inaugural visit of the motorcycle Grand Prix paddock to the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve. Jack Miller topped the combined practice times in the three free practice sessions.

Q1 was delayed after an expiry for the motor of Johann Zarco’s Ducati at the end of FP4 saw a possible track contamination due to the #5 deciding to cross the track with smoke pouring from his machine.

Eventually, though, the session was underway, and it included some major names, including the top two in the championship: newly crowned champion Joan Mir and second-place Franco Morbidelli.

Cal Crutchlow and Franco Morbidelli looked nailed on to advance to Q2 after the first laps of their second runs and had over half a second back to third-placed Aleix Espargaro, but with three minutes left on the clock there was still time for others to make the difference. The closest anyone got was Brad Binder, who was underneath Crutchlow’s time after three splits on his final lap, but the #33 just missed out in the final sector. But what was disappointment for Binder was delight for Morbidelli, who ensured a 100% Q2 record for the year, joining Crutchlow in moving on to the second session.

Miguel Oliveira had been fast all weekend on the #88 KTM in his first home Grand Prix since his rookie Moto3 season in 2012. The Red Bull KTM Tech 3 rider completed an awesome first two days in Portimao with a maiden MotoGP front row, and he did it with pole position. For a rider who has been historically averse to pole positions and strong qualifying results of any kind, it was an impressive performance, especially considering who he was up against. 

Franco Morbidlelli is one of strongest riders in MotoGP at the moment and has taken two poles in 2020 on what is the best motorcycle over one lap: the Yamaha YZR-M1. Additionally, the rider with whom Morbidelli fought for victory in Valencia six days ago, Jack Miller, has been the best Ducati rider this season overall and in particular over the last few races. And yet, Oliveira eclipsed them both, and the other nine riders in Q2, to take his maiden MotoGP pole in his first premier class home race and his final Grand Prix for Tech 3, who haven’t been on pole since Valencia 2018. 

Morbidelli had provisional pole after his first run on a medium rear (he was saving the only soft he had left after Q1 for the final run), and consolidated that when he switched to his final soft tyre at the end of the session. But the final lap of Oliveira was irresistible, and the in-form Italian was forced to settle for second. 

Miller, similarly, had to settle for third, once again coming up just shy of Morbidelli, but like last week the Australian has a great chance to take his first victory for Pramac Racing in his final race before joining the factory Ducati team next year. 

Cal Crutchlow was on the front row until Oliveira’s late pole lap bumped him to fourth, but it was nonetheless a brilliant performance from the Q1 graduate. The LCR Honda rider will be joined by Fabio Quartararo, who with fifth place secured the BMW M Award for the year, and Stefan Bradl. The German, too, was on the front row provisionally after the first laps of the second runs, but was shuffled back. Nonetheless, a second row starting position – the best qualifying for Repsol Honda this season – is impressive for a rider who was not expecting to be competing at all only just over four months ago.

Johann Zarco had a crash in Q2 but was able to remount and qualify seventh, ahead of Maverick Vinales and Pol Espargaro on the third row. 

Row four will be headed up by Alex Rins, whose crash in practice yesterday tweaked the right shoulder he injured back in the Spanish Grand Prix in July, and the Spaniard is now considering surgery in the winter. The Spaniard will be joined on the fourth row by Takaaki Nakagami – who crashed in FP4 in turn four and further damaged the right hand he hurt yesterday in a similar incident – and Andrea Dovizioso in his final race for the factory Ducati team.

Thanks to coming up just short of Morbidelli’s time in Q1, Brad Binder was the fastest rider to miss out on Q2, and the #33 will start from 13th at the head of the fifth row, on which he will be joined by Aleix Espargaro – who was unfortunate to be blocked on his fast lap by Morbidelli who was entering pit lane – and Francesco Bagnaia whose struggles in the second half of the year continue. 

The sixth row will be headed by Alex Marquez and, just as in Valencia, Valentino Rossi will start from 17th with a factory Ducati completing row six. However, this time it will be Danilo Petrucci who sits in 18th. Undoubtedly, for Marquez, Rossi and Petrucci row six was not the intended departure point for their final races with their respective teams.

Lorenzo Savadori has impressed this weekend, occasionally popping up into the top three or four positions in practice. The Italian qualified 19th, at the head of row seven, and will be joined by newly crowned champion Joan Mir on that seventh row after a bizarre Q1 session for the #36 in which he could not complete a clean lap. Mir will have work to do tomorrow as he looks to contribute to Suzuki’s Manufacturers’ title hopes – if Rins does not finish or runs into shoulder issues the role of the 2020 Riders’ World Champion could not be more important for the Hamamatsu brand. 

The seventh row will be rounded out by Tito Rabat, and Mika Kallio – riding this weekend in place of the luckless and COVID-19-positive Iker Lecuona who won’t have ridden a MotoGP bike in five months by the time testing gets underway next year.