MotoGP

Oliveira tops third Portimao practice, highside crash for Marquez

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
3 min read

Miguel Oliveira led the way on home soil in the third practice session at a still-wet Portimao, with Marc Marquez among those to be thrown off their bikes.


Key moments:

> Marquez, Binder and Bezzecchi in big crashes

> Quartararo gets Yamaha into Q2

> Q1 beckons for Bastianini, Rins, Bagnaia


With the track soaked at the start of the session but not wet enough for Friday times to be out of reach, Marquez was among those pushing for a weekend-best laptime when he was chucked off his Honda exiting the Turn 8 right-hander.

Thought it was a relatively low-speed fall, Marquez was launched high enough for the visor on his helmet to come loose from the impact of the subsequent landing ā€“ but he was immediately back on his feet and actually managed to ride his RC213V back to the pits. He would return to the track in the final minutes of FP3.

A few minutes after his crash, Marquezā€™s Friday benchmark was bettered by home hero Oliveira ā€“ but just as this looked to set up a blockbuster battle for automatic Q2 spots, rain made its return, soon intensifying to render the rest of the session a formality.

Alongside Oliveira and his 1m50.552s, the likes of Joan Mir (Suzuki), Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) and Brad Binder (KTM) also managed to dip below Marquezā€™s Friday effort, with Binder then highsiding off his RC16 through Turn 9, unhurt.

Johann Zarco (Pramac Ducati), Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) and Jack Miller (Ducati) completed the top seven in the session to book their spots in Q2, Espargaro doing so at the expense of team-mate Maverick Vinales right before rain picked up.

Marquez, Honda factory team-mate Pol Espargaro and VR46 Ducati rookie Marco Bezzecchi were the three riders to advance to Q2 on the strength of their Friday times.

Bezzecchi was thrown off his bike at Turn 1 in the final minutes of the session, joining a list of FP3 fallers that also included fellow rookie Darryn Binder (RNF Yamaha) and LCR Hondaā€™s Alex Marquez.

Among those who will go through the first qualifying segment later today are the top two in the standings, Enea Bastianini (Gresini Ducati) and Alex Rins (Suzuki), as well as Ducatiā€™s Francesco Bagnaia and Pramac Ducatiā€™s Jorge Martin.

Practice 3 Results

Pos Name Team Bike Gap Next Gap Leader Best Time
1 Miguel Oliveira Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1m50.552s
2 Joan Mir Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki +0.049s +0.049s 1m50.601s
3 Fabio Quartararo Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha +0.005s +0.054s 1m50.606s
4 Brad Binder Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM +0.053s +0.107s 1m50.659s
5 Johann Zarco Pramac Racing Ducati +0.584s +0.691s 1m51.243s
6 Aleix EspargarĆ³ Aprilia Racing Aprilia +0.005s +0.696s 1m51.248s
7 Jack Miller Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati +0.005s +0.701s 1m51.253s
8 Marc Marquez Repsol Honda Team Honda +0.132s +0.833s 1m51.385s
9 Franco Morbidelli Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha +0.07s +0.903s 1m51.455s
10 Marco Bezzecchi Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati +0.056s +0.959s 1m51.511s
11 Alex Marquez LCR Honda Castrol Honda +0.056s +1.015s 1m51.567s
12 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati Lenovo Team Ducati +0.283s +1.298s 1m51.85s
13 Luca Marini Mooney VR46 Racing Team Ducati +0.025s +1.323s 1m51.875s
14 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda IDEMITSU Honda +0.023s +1.346s 1m51.898s
15 Raul Fernandez Tech3 KTM Factory Racing KTM +0.004s +1.35s 1m51.902s
16 Alex Rins Team SUZUKI ECSTAR Suzuki +0.059s +1.409s 1m51.961s
17 Jorge Martin Pramac Racing Ducati +0.192s +1.601s 1m52.153s
18 Remy Gardner Tech3 KTM Factory Racing KTM +0.094s +1.695s 1m52.247s
19 Maverick ViƱales Aprilia Racing Aprilia +0.049s +1.744s 1m52.296s
20 Pol EspargarĆ³ Repsol Honda Team Honda +0.324s +2.068s 1m52.62s
21 Andrea Dovizioso WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha +0.112s +2.18s 1m52.732s
22 Darryn Binder WithU Yamaha RNF MotoGP Team Yamaha +0.52s +2.7s 1m53.252s
23 Enea Bastianini Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati +0.161s +2.861s 1m53.413s
24 Lorenzo Savadori Aprilia Racing Aprilia +0.367s +3.228s 1m53.78s
25 Fabio Di Giannantonio Gresini Racing MotoGP Ducati +0.586s +3.814s 1m54.366s
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