French MotoGP world champion Fabio Quartararo finished third in the free practice session of the Portuguese Grand Prix on Saturday morning, securing his place to qualify directly for qualifying in the afternoon. On the still wet track at the Algarve Circuit, in southern Portugal, it was Portugal’s Miguel Oliveira (KTM) who set the best time, ahead of Spaniard Juan Mir (Suzuki) and Quartararo (Yamaha)
Marc Marquez (Honda) fell hard on his head again after losing control of his bike on the wet track. The Spanish pilot does not appear to have been seriously affected. A victim of several falls in recent months, he has had to miss two Grands Prix already this year due to vision problems after having crashes. However, he managed to get the fifth time before crashing.
Another victim of the wet track, South African Brad Bender (KTM) got up without difficulty after a long slip. He got the fourth time of the session. The second Frenchman to enter the MotoGP, Johann Zarco (Ducati-Pramac), made the eighth combined time of the three test sessions, so he will also move straight into the second quarter.
The two qualifying sessions (Q1 and then Q2) can be contested on a dry track even if the weather has been bad since Friday in Portimão. However, he should improve gradually and Sunday’s race is scheduled due to the dry weather. The combined classification of the three free MotoGP training sessions at the Portuguese Grand Prix at Portimão (4.592 km) contested on Friday and Saturday:
