The Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira (Aprilia) finished this Saturday in 13th place in the sprint race of the Qatar Grand Prix, the first race of the MotoGP World Championship won by the Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati).
The Almada rider crossed the finish line 13.095 seconds behind the winner, who started from pole, with South African Brad Binder (KTM) in second place, 0.548 seconds, and Spaniard Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) third, 0.729.
“It’s nice to start like this. The vibrations in the rear gear returned, but despite this we were able to win,” emphasized Jorge Martin, who finished second in 2023.
Reigning champion Italy’s Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) finished fourth by 1.625 seconds, while Spaniard Marc Marquez (Ducati) finished fifth with 1.872 seconds after battling for the podium positions on lap seven.
Miguel Oliveira, who started from 14th place, after being fourth in the first stage of qualifying (Q1), was immediately ahead of his teammate, Spaniard Raul Fernandez, who even started from 12th position.
The Portuguese driver did not have a good start and ended up in 16th place at the end of the first lap. In the second he was already 15th, reaching 14th place on the third lap.
However, with just two laps left in the sprint, Oliveira, who will be making his North American Trackhouse debut this year, was up to 13th place.
With these results, Jorge Martin leads the championship with 12 points.
The main race will take place on Sunday (17:00).
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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