Miguel Oliveira finished the first phase of MotoGP Catalan GP qualifying in fifth. Therefore, the Trackhouse Racing Portuguese will start from 15th in both Barcelona races, despite having prospects of making it to Q2 until very close to the end.
Quiet at the beginning, the Almada driver was in 12th and second to last after the first flying laps, but there was a clear margin to progress. Something proven with his next lap, reaching the top five with his best time of the weekend up to that point.
However, it was not enough to fight for access to Q2. When he entered the pits halfway through Q1, Oliveira was in fifth place just 0.180s behind the leader, his teammate Raúl Fernández.
In the last five minutes, he started his final exit to the track, with the two previous tires: a medium one in the front and a soft one in the rear. And he immediately improved to reach second, just 0.098s behind Fernández who had just set a new record lap.
Unable to improve again until the end, Oliveira finished in fifth, which corresponds to the 15th position on the starting grid for both races.
- Exit 1: New medium tire in the front and new soft tire in the rear
- Lap 1: Pit exit
- Lap 2: 1m44.011s
- Lap 3: 1m38.930s
- Lap 4: Pit entry
- Exit 2: Medium used tire in front and soft used tire in the back
- Turn 5: Pit exit
- Turn 6: 1m38,551s
- Turn 7: Lap cancelled
- Turn 8: 1m38,924s (end of Q1)
