Miguel Oliveira finished 12th in the first free practice of the Qatar GP, which officially kicked off the MotoGP season. The Trackhouse Racing rider was second among the Aprilia bikes, just ahead of Maverick Viñales (Aprilia), in a session where the times are not very representative because it was held during the day unlike the decisive sessions of the weekend: timed practice, qualifying, and races.
Season start for #88 within the top ten with the first laps set in this session. His first outing on track had three laps set, returning to the pits when he was tenth.
When he returned to the track about ten minutes later, Oliveira was in 11th position. In this sequence of laps, he did not improve his time and started dropping down the table: he was 15th when he returned to the pits about a quarter of an hour before the checkered flag.
In the last ten minutes, the Portuguese rider made his final exit to the track. It was only on his second to last lap that Oliveira improved his time, jumping to 11th place. Until the end, the rider from Almada did not improve further and was even overtaken by Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), finishing in 12th.
