2020 MotoGP Round 15 – Portimao Qualifying

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Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) became Portugal’s first premier class winner earlier this season, and what better place to become the nation’s first premier class polesitter than home turf? With a spectacular final lap, that’s exactly what he did – making a little history and putting himself in the best possible position for his first MotoGP race on home soil. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) was the man just denied, with Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) completing the front row.

In Q1, it was close but in the end Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) came out on top as he started his final MotoGP qualifying on top form, just a few hundredths ahead of Morbidelli. Morbidelli had a tense end to the session, however, pulling into pitlane with a minute still on the clock and left to wait and see if Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) could knock him out. The South African was setting red sectors until the final sector, where the lap just went away and he ended up third; 13th on the grid as he aims to secure Rookie of the Year.

Behind the fight for the top, newly-crowned MotoGP World Champion Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) equalled his worst ever premier class qualifying after a very difficult Saturday at the office. Not able to pull anything out the hat in Q1, he starts P20 and third to last on the grid.

Next up, Q2 was ready to go and the stage was set. The majestic Algarve International Circuit was the perfect host for the last qualifying dance of 2020, but who would come out on top? Zarco was the first man into the 1:39s, but there would be plenty more where that came from. Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) and Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) exchanged P1 in quick succession before Morbidelli shot to the top with a 1:39.245, sitting provisional pole position after the first runs.

With six minutes to go, most of the riders left pitlane for their final time attack of the season. Quartararo was up in Sector 1, so was Crutchlow and so was Zarco. Morbidelli was under his own time in Sector 2 as well. Coming over the line, Quartararo moved himself up to P5 from P9 and Morbidelli improved his time once more.

Stefan Bradl (Repsol Honda Team) then shot into an amazing second, but it didn’t last too long as Crutchlow then demoted his fellow HRC rider to third and Quartararo moved onto the front row. Morbidelli and Miller, however, were flying. The first 1:38 was slammed in from the Italian, but could Miller snatch it away? Not quite, although the Aussie took over in second.

Then though, all eyes turned to the local hero. Oliveira was one of the last men who could deny Morbidelli and giving it his all on home soil, more than in touch. Rising over the brow of the hill, the number 88 got it done and crossed the line to set a new all-time lap record, a phenomenal 1:38.892. The celebrations couldn’t be too vigorous just yet though, with fellow KTM rider Pol Espargaro still out on a charge. The number 44 was faster in Sector 1 and 2 but by the end of the lap, the time faded away for the Spaniard and that was all she wrote: the dream was realised for Oliveira, Tech3 and Portugal. His maiden MotoGP pole, Portugal’s first MotoGP pole and Tech3’s first pole of the year.

Morbidelli’s qualifying was outstanding, however, the Italian turning Q1 into just 0.044 seconds off pole. Miller takes third and his fifth front row of the season, with his great mate Crutchlow next up. P4 is the British rider’s best qualifying result since his Aragon front row, can he fight for a dream goodbye podium from there?

Another man hoping to end the season on a high will be Quartararo from P5 on the grid, which also hands the Frenchman the BMW Qualifying Award for 2020. In addition, his fifth ensures the top five in qualifying are all Independent Team machines. In terms of the Independent Team rider standings, meanwhile, it’s Morbidelli vs Quartararo with the Italian ahead by 17 points…

In sixth place, it’s hats off to test rider turned increasingly impressive stand-in Stefan Bradl. The German HRC rider has been quick all weekend and was less than two tenths away from the front row, set to start the season finale as the top factory rider to boot. He beats Zarco by 0.034 seconds as the Frenchman took seventh despite a crash, with Viñales set to line-up in P8. Both he and ninth place Pol Espargaro finish just three tenths away from pole, but lock out the third row – showing once again how close the margins are in MotoGP.

Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) is going in search of P2 in the overall standings and the Constructor title for Suzuki, but he’s got a bit of work to do from P10. However, we’ve seen Rins reach the podium from further back in recent times, so never say never! The top Ducati – with the Borgo Panigale factory equal on points with Suzuki in the constructors’ standings – is Miller on the front row, however.

Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemtisu) had a big FP4 crash and will line-up 11th on tomorrow’s grid, the first time he’s been off the front row in a few weeks, with Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) finishing Q2 in P12 – 0.695 away from pole position and suffering a lap cancelled.

What a way for MotoGP qualifying to end in 2020. After seeing their man grab a first win in Styria, Portuguese fans now have a premier class pole position to celebrate thanks to the superb efforts of Oliveira. The job isn’t done yet though, can the Portuguese superstar end the season in fairytale fashion with a race win?

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MotoGP Rider Quotes

Miguel Oliveira – P1

“It feels really good to be on pole at home. I feel like every time I go on bike on this track I just enjoy every lap and I think that was key today to perform well. For sure, when you enjoy yourself, things somehow get easier. It’s nice to do the first pole here in Portugal and still, we want to finish strong tomorrow and complete the job.”

Franco Morbidelli – P2

“It was a difficult day. We tried some things this morning that were working well yesterday, but they weren’t as good today and I didn’t have a good feeling this morning. We worked on the settings, which helped us to go better and better. We started to get the good feeling back in Q1 and were able to go through to Q2, although it was on the limit as I didn’t improve my time in sector four. I was able to push my tyres a lot in Q2 to finally take the second position, which is a great spot to start the race tomorrow. I’m really happy with the job the team has done today to make the bike better. Tomorrow it will be important to stay with Miguel [Oliveira], as he seems like the rider with the best pace here at the moment, and then see what happens during the race.”

Jack Miller – P3

“It has been a positive day, I have given my best as always and tomorrow I will start from the front row which is always an advantage. We started fast since the FP3, we worked very well all weekend and I am satisfied. Tomorrow I would like to be able to give Pramac Racing the last good memory….”

Cal Crutchlow – P4

“It was a good day today for the qualifying, we need to improve the bike setting over the race pace and the race distance and also to choose the tyres for tomorrow’s race. It seems there could be a big mix in the tyre choice, so we’ll see how that goes. But I’m pleased with my qualifying because I put it on the line to try and get a good grid position for my last race.”

Fabio Quartararo – P5

“It was a positive day, because we have improved a lot since Valencia. We still have some things we struggled with and that I wasn’t feeling so good with, but we are P5 and that is good. The pace is quite strong, I think I can make the step forward tomorrow and we have something interesting to try in Warm Up. I think the tyre management will be important, as they are wearing very quickly. We will see what happens in the race but I will be giving my best to have a good final race of the year, others have good pace so it will be hard to follow them. I really want to end the season in the best way for the team.”

Stefan Bradl – P6

“Coming straight into Q2 was great, we have been close a couple of times this year and it was a good accomplishment to enter the top ten. Once we were in the session, I was able to be relaxed because we had already achieved something important so we were really able to push. I’m very happy with my lap and all the work the Repsol Honda Team has done. Our race pace is also looking quite good, let’s have a good final race and see what happens. We have so far put together a great weekend, a good way to end the year.”

Johann Zarco – P7

“Seventh position is not bad for tomorrow, the time is not enough to fight for pole position but after a small crash I think it is a good time and it has been a positive qualifying. Tomorrow in the first laps I will have to be able to overtake the drivers and set a good pace from the beginning to have a chance to fight for podium positions.”

Maverick Vinales – P8

“For sure I’m not satisfied, because I arrived at this track with high expectations. I was riding fast with the street bike during the test and also in FP1 and FP2 we were there, but today we didn’t have the same feeling, especially when it comes to rear grip. Because of this, in Qualifying I didn’t do as well as I could have done. Maybe the hard tyre can give us something extra for tomorrow. I’m starting from the third row, which usually doesn’t really bode well for me, but I will try to do a good race.”

Pol Espargaro – P9

“It was a good in the morning and we had a decent feeling with the bike, used tyres, and tyres but in the afternoon I missed knowing the full limits of this track. It’s easy to find the limit of the bike but where to take it in the third sector was the problem. It was the hardest part to learn and we’re talking about hardly anything at all in braking! I just needed more laps. I think we are very strong with the race rhythm so we’ll push but it won’t be too easy from 9th place. We’ll see what we can manage.”

Alex Rins – P10

“Let’s see what we can do tomorrow. I’ll start on the fourth row in 10th, and I think I can do something. My lap times and feelings have been good, and even though the track is quite tight and technical, I feel positive. Tomorrow morning’s warm-up will be important for testing my rhythm once again, because now we’re sure of the set-up, so the next thing is just to feel a bit more comfortable in my rhythm. I’ll try extremely hard to get the best position possible to end the season on a high with my Team and with the hope of the triple crown.”

Takaaki Nakagami – P11

“I had a crash during FP4 when we had a really positive feeling on the bike. We prepared two bikes, one with very long gearing – the same as (Stefan) Bradl – which was really positive, I felt really comfortable on it and the lap times were really consistent. Then, for the first time we tried a hard compound on the front, and it was a little bit too hard for us. I lost the front end at the same corner as yesterday. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow because we found good race pace and I think we can fight for a good result in the last race of the 2020 season. As always, I’ll try to do my best until the last moment and hopefully I can get a great result for the team.”

Andrea Dovizioso – P12

“I am a little disappointed with the result achieved today in qualifying: compared to yesterday we had managed to take several steps forward. It won’t be an easy race starting so far back, as here, in Portimão, there are not many overtaking spots. In any case, our pace for the race is good, and our direct rivals in the championship are not far off. Tomorrow it will be crucial to get a good start off the grid”. 

Brad Binder – P13

“We were really unfortunate just to miss out on Q2. The frustrating thing for me is that I have the pace and I was capable of a lap-time a good couple of tenths quicker than I managed. In general, I think we’ve done a good job of getting my feeling better, especially because I felt like I was struggling a lot, in FP3 in particular, and we made a couple of steps forward. The race pace is not too bad at all we just need a bit more time on the bike. The circuit here is really hard. If you make just a couple of small mistakes in places it costs you all the way round. It’s been good to learn so far and I think I’ll be stronger tomorrow.”

Aleix Espargaro – P14

“Unfortunately, having missed out on going straight through to Q2 threw a spanner in our plans. In FP3, we were really close. My pace is some consolation for me, since I didn’t see any other riders with a decidedly better one than mine, so I think I’ll be able to make up positions in the race. This is not the best circuit for overtaking, but there are some possibilities, especially if we are able to exploit the strong points of the RS-GP.”

Pecco Bagnaia – P15

“Today I struggled a lot, starting from this far back is always very complicated. I’m sorry, I wasn’t able to express myself as I would have liked but with the team we are trying to understand how we can improve to have a good race tomorrow.”

Alex Marquez – P16

“It was a difficult Quali, I tried to get a bit of slipstream to improve but couldn’t find it. On the last lap I really went for it, but I found a bit of traffic, this is just how it is sometimes. Free Practice 4 was good for us and we found more of a direction to follow for the tyres for the race but we need to do a bit of work in Warm Up to be sure. The goal is to enjoy the race and recover as many positions as possible.”

Valentino Rossi – P17

“Yesterday was a difficult day. Getting familiarised with the track took longer than I expected, because I like the track a lot. Yesterday we tried some things to improve the grip, but I lost the feeling. I was very slow and I also lost time because I crashed. Today was a bit better. We worked in a better way and also in the afternoon we made a step compared to the morning, especially concerning the race pace, which is not so bad. But, anyway, I’m a bit behind. We will see tomorrow, because there‘s a group of riders who have a similar pace to mine, so I will try to fight with them. It’s a difficult track where nobody has raced before. You can learn a track during practice sessions, but in a race it will be different with all the other bikes. That can bring some surprises. It’s not easy to overtake here, so the start and first laps will be important.”

Danilo Petrucci – P18

“It’s been a complicated day. Unfortunately, I still can’t get a good feeling with the bike on this track. We are working hard to try to find a good setup. Now we will do some more tests in the warm-up tomorrow morning. Hopefully, we can find some solutions that will allow me to fight for the top ten and have a good race tomorrow”.

Lorenzo Savadori – P19

“My feeling continues to improve and I’m happy about that. My pace isn’t bad. I still struggle with confidence when the tank is full, so it will be important not to lose too much ground in the early laps tomorrow. We did some tests where that is concerned, thanks to the fact that I’m getting used to working with two bikes. It seems like a simple thing, but it actually changes the work method entirely compared to having a single bike. However, in qualifying I could have done more. As I already mentioned, when it comes to finding that last 10% of performance on the flying lap, I still don’t have perfect sensations, and in this championship, it’s the details that make the difference.”

Joan Mir – P20

“It was a really difficult day because I had some issues with the bike and I wasn’t able to get the same feeling I had yesterday. Once we discovered the problem it was too late to do anything about it and I’d already missed out on final qualifying. But in general I have been feeling good here, so I am confident that the Team and I can put everything together tomorrow to regain my good pace and have a strong comeback.”

Tito Rabat – P21

“Today we have taken a step forward compared to yesterday, we have improved our best lap by almost a second which means that the team has done a good job. I’m very motivated for tomorrow, apart from being the last race of the year because Joan (Mir) starts right in front of me so I hope I can have fun with him for a few laps even if it is.”

Mika Kallio – P22

“It was harder as we expected. It seems to be really difficult to improve, even if I did of course a lot of laps today and more than yesterday, I thought I get better used to the bike, the tyres and especially to the track, but in the end, the lap time didn’t really arrive. It was similar as yesterday, which is a bit weird. My riding apparently is not on the level to get the tyres working and I feel like the bike is on the limit all the time. This is the main thing and it’s hard to say, how to go through that. Of course, everything comes from my side, but somehow I must be able to push more and stress the tyres more in order to get the temperature in and generate the grip. There are many things. I knew it’s going to be difficult, but maybe it’s slightly more complicated than I expected.”

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Team Managers

Massimo Meregalli – Yamaha Team Director

We expected that this recently resurfaced track was going to provide us with good grip, but apparently this isn’t the case. We are mostly lacking consistency in the grip level that we get from the tyres. Some are working, but others not so much. This is affecting the behaviour of our bikes a lot. Maverick was feeling very comfortable yesterday, but this morning in FP3 less so. In FP4 he did a good run, but in qualifying the grip was once again not as good as it needs to be. We will try to analyse the data we collected today more deeply to understand how we can manage the problem. Today Valentino was feeling better on the bike compared to yesterday. He also found an improvement between FP3 and FP4, but he needs another step for tomorrow’s race. He has mentioned some areas he would like to improve, so that’s what we’ll work on. The Warm Up will give us an important indication of what the race will be like.

Davide Brivio – Suzuki Team Manager

“Today wasn’t easy. Alex had a good FP3 this morning but during the qualifying he couldn’t get higher than 10th. Joan suffered a bit with a lack of confidence in qualifying, because he didn’t have the same feeling with the bike as he had yesterday, when he felt really good. His grid spot is a long way back, but we know that with a good feeling he can still have a nice race and gain positions.”

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MotoGP Qualifying Results

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Moto2

Remy Gardner (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team) stormed Saturday at the Grande Premio MEO de Portugal, the Australian taking his second pole of the season as he beat Championship challenger Luca Marini (Sky Racing Team VR46) to the top by a tenth. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Beta Tools Speed Up) starts third, with Enea Bastianini and Sam Lowes (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) shuffled back to head the second row and Marco Bezzecchi (Sky Racing Team VR46) down in 12th.

In Q1 it was all eyes on Bezzecchi as the man fourth overall – who needs to win to have any chance at the crown – found himself on the back foot, but the Italian moved through with Bo Bendsneyder (NTS RW Racing GP), Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) and Nicolo Bulega (Federal Oil Gresini Moto2) joining him, the fight for the top 18 on.

Job done for Bezzecchi, Q2 began. Right at the start, there was drama at the exit of Turn 8. Aron Canet (Pull&Bear Aspar Team Moto2) crashed and slid down the hill but thankfully, no one collected the Spaniard or his stricken Speed Up machine; disaster avoided.

Q1 graduate Bulega sat top of the tree in the opening stages before Augusto Fernandez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) then took over, but it wasn’t long until some key title contenders began a charge. Marini was first of them to the summit before injured Lowes produced a wonderful 1:42.759 to go provisional pole instead.

Fernandez made it an EG 0,0 Marc VDS 1-2 with seven minutes to go, before Hector Garzo (Flexbox HP 40) shoved Marini off the front row. However, the man third in the title race was on a flyer: three red splits came before an orange fourth sector for Marini put the VR46 Academy rider in P2. On his next lap, Marini changed the number next to his name to a one to take back provisional pole.

The new time to beat was a 1:42.710 with just over two minutes to go, with Bastianini floundering down in P16. Lowes pulled into pitlane sitting P3, his afternoon’s work seemingly done as the Brit waited to see how the dice would roll.

That’s when Gardner struck as the Aussie then suddenly shot to pole, but there seemed to be an absolute stunner coming in from Di Giannantonio. The Italian was three tenths under and looked like he would challenge, but Gardner’s stunner of a final sector was a gauntlet thrown down too far for the Italian. He ultimately stayed third as Bastianini began his comeback just down the road.

The Italian improved to eighth to leap up into at least a better postcode, but he wasn’t done yet. Despite the enormous pressure, the Championship leader kept it calm and collected to improve yet again on his final lap. It looked to challenge for pole as the ‘Beast’ was 0.004 off in Sector 3, but over the line the number 33 slotted into fourth. A job well done and, crucially, ahead of closest challenger Lowes.

That was it, and no one had an answer for Gardner. The Australian bags his second pole of the season and his fourth front row of 2020 to beat Marini as the Italian returns to the front row for the first time since his Catalan GP pole. Di Giannantonio will line-up on the front row ahead of the top two in the title race: Bastianini and Lowes. Three of the top four will battle it out on Sunday from the front so the stage is set for an absolute thriller!

Martin comes through Q1 to pocket a second row start in P6, the Valencia GP winner edging out Bulega by 0.047 seconds. The latter will spearhead the third row and is joined by Fernandez and Marcos Ramirez (Tennor American Racing), with Tetsuta Nagashima (Red Bull KTM Ajo) completing the top 10. Garzo was 11th ahead of the final title contender: Bezzecchi. The Italian came through Q1 and will start from P12 in an outside bid to claim the World Championship on Sunday afternoon, the race a true hero or zero as he has to win to stand any chance at the crown.

Remy Gardner – P1

“The fourth sector has been positive for us all weekend! We struggled yesterday a bit in Sector 3 so we studied telemetry and the videos really hard, we managed to improve Sectors 2 and 3. Sector 1 we’re not the strongest yet, hopefully tomorrow morning we can find a little bit more in Sector 1, maybe change my riding a bit through Turn 1. But I knew if I could get to Sector 3 at +0, I could get pole because Sector 4 is quite good for us. The team worked really well over the last two day, I love the track, it’s just so much fun and I enjoy riding the bike every lap round here. It’s a good starting position for tomorrow, let’s see what we can do and hopefully finish back on the podium to give the team the result they deserve.”

Moto2 Qualifying Results

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Moto3

Raul Fernandez (Red Bull KTM Ajo) will sign off his brief but successful Moto3 career from another pole position, the Spaniard hitting the competition for six in the Grande Premio MEO de Portugal for pole number six. Rookie of the Year Jeremy Alcoba (Kömmerling Gresini Moto3) will start second, with Ayumu Sasaki (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) taking third and his first front row of the year.

There were some big Championship dramas just behind that. Tony Arbolino (Rivacold Snipers Team) didn’t make it through Q1 and faces a fight for the crown from P27 on the grid, and Ai Ogura (Honda Team Asia) left it until a last lap dash to move through. The Japanese rider kept it together to take fifth in Q2 however, and will start just ahead of Championship leader Albert Arenas (Gaviota Aspar Team Moto3).

Q1 was a tense one right to the last as lady luck looked kindly on one contender and not the other, Ogura slicing through on his final attempt – when he’d not even set a time before that – to take third and move through, and Arbolino not managing to pull anything out the hat, trapped in traffic and rolling off. And so, the Italian starts P27. In the end, Darryn Binder (CIP – Green Power) topped the session from Tatsuki Suzuki (SIC58 Squadra Corse), with Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) fourth behind Ogura.

Q2 saw chaos reign for many as well, but Fernandez started and ended the session on top. The Spaniard set the first fastest lap before Sasaki hit back and then Alcoba, the three asserting their pace from the off, but Fernandez had something left in the locker as he put in a 1:48.051 for provisional pole. That remained unchallenged to the end, an impressive lap and ahead of that aforementioned chaos.

For one big group of riders, the intention was to cross the line for their final push right before the flag. The reality was that most missed the cut by millimetres, and lost the chance at a final push. One of the only men to improve late on was Ogura, however, as the Championship contender once again proved his mettle with a late dash. It was enough for fifth, just ahead of Arenas and behind fellow Q1 graduate Tatsuki Suzuki on Row 2.

Antonelli heads Row 3, another Q1 runner getting the job done, with Leopard Racing’s Dennis Foggia and Jaume Masia in eighth and ninth, respectively. However, both the Leopard machines must do two Long Lap penalties in the race for irresponsible riding in FP2 on Friday.

Gabriel Rodrigo (Kömmerling Gresini Moto3) took tenth despite a crash, with Deniz Öncü (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) and Sergio Garcia (Estrella Galicia 0,0) joining him on Row 4. Barry Baltus (CarXpert PrüstelGP) took a best ever P13 on the grid, with Celestino Vietti (Sky Racing Team VR46) alongside him. Yuki Kunii (Honda Team Asia) was 15th fastest, although he is another with a penalty to serve in the race, although a single Long Lap in his case.

Raul Fernandez

“It’s amazing, incredible. I end my life in Moto3 with a pole position, I hope tomorrow we can do minimum a podium, I will fight for the victory and I’m very happy to be here in my last race here. It was important to start from the first place. It was a really difficult session, windy, and it was difficult to ride with the wind but I’m happy. For the race we need to enjoy it!”

Moto3 Qualifying Results

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MotoGP World Championship Standings

MotoGP Constructors Championship

MotoGP Team Championship

Source: MCNews.com.au