MotoGP Portugal FP3 LIVE: Oliveira hero at home, Quartararo transformed!

For the moment, the weather forecast for the Portuguese Grand Prix at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, near Portimao, has turned out to be accurate, and that's annoying because it called for wet testing and a dry race. : a headache for technicians and enough to undermine all predictions...

This morning, they have hardly changed favorably, still anticipating a wet Saturday and perhaps even a Sunday of the same ilk, so we will have to make do and take advantage of FP3 to enter the top 10.

Friday morning, on a very wet track even though the rain had stopped, Marc Marquez, Joan Mir, Marco Bezzecchi, Johann zarco, Miguel Oliveira, Maverick Vinales, Jorge Martin, Francesco Bagnaia, Jack Miller and Alex Marquez had pre-qualified for a direct passage to Q2, with a bar set at 1'51.648.

In the afternoon, on an increasingly wet track, Espargaro Pol was the fastest in the session ahead of his teammate and, in the end, Marc Marquez, Pol Espargaro, Joan Mir, Marco Bezzecchi, Johann zarco, Miguel Oliveira, Maverick Vinales, Jorge Martin, Francesco Bagnaia and Jack Miller pre-qualified for direct passage to Q2, with the bar this time lowered to 1'51.437.

The last 5 minutes of FP2 in video:

French side, Johann zarco suffered a fall at the end of FP2 but is still in the running in these delicate conditions while the situation is much more delicate for fabio quartararo, currently qualified 20th, who suffers from a lack of grip from his Yamaha on the poor grip surface of Portimao in the wet.

While waiting to discover more, as the 25 drivers prepare for this third 45-minute free practice session, under a sky that is still very gray and a track that is still completely wet with temperatures of 12° in the air and 11° on the ground, let's enjoy these few live moments thanks to the official website MotoGP.com :

A distinguished guest…

MotoGP™ Portimao	4-2021	11-2021	2022
FP1	1'42.127 Maverick Vinales (See here)	1'40.192 Fabio Quartararo (See here)	1'50.666 Marc Marquez (See here)
FP2	1'39.866 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)	1'39.390 Fabio Quartararo (See here)	1'50.707 Pol Espargaro (See here)
FP3	1'39.044 Fabio Quartararo (See here)	1'39.202 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)	1'50.552 Miguel Oliveira (See here)
FP4	1'39.788 Fabio Quartararo (See here)	1'39.665 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)
Q1	1'39.253 Marc Marquez (See here)	1'39.130 Johann Zarco (See here)
Q2	1'38.862 Fabio Quartararo (See here)	1'38.725 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)
Warm Up	1'39.721 Jack Miller (See here)	1'39.711 Francesco Bagnaia (See here)
Course	Quartararo, Bagnaia, Mir (See here)	Bagnaia, Mir, Miller (See here)
All time lap record	1'38.862 Fabio Quartararo (See here)	1'38.725 Francesco Bagnaia 2021 (See here)

When the red lights go out... no one rushes to get on the track and it's finally Andrea Dovizioso who rushes first. Conversely, Pol Espargaro, Joan Mir, Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro take their time to leave...

When it comes to tires, everyone chose the soft rain tire at the rear and the medium at the front, except Francesco Bagnaia et Jack Miller who still use the tender at the front.

At the end of the first flying round, it is Fabio Quartararo who sets the pace in 1'53.570 ahead Miguel Oliveira, Takaaki Naquet Gabi and Johann Zarco.

In the next passage, Jack Miller lowers the reference to 1'51.334 ahead Fabio Quartararo, Jorge Martin and Marc Marquez. As a reminder, you will have to do better than 1'51.437 to have a chance of entering the top 10. This is precisely what The Devil who scored 1'51.222 after the third flying lap while Miguel Oliveira takes the lead of the session in 1'50.894.

After 10 minutes, Marc Márquez fall at turn #8, without seriousness despite the steep high side.

At the same time, his brother made the mistake at turn #4, without the slightest seriousness.

At the top, the times are improving with Miguel Oliveira in 1'50.796 then 1'50.583 and Fabio Quartararo 1'51.022 then 1'50.832: clearly, the Frenchman has found something and is provisionally in fourth place in the combined ranking!

At the end of the first quarter of an hour, the combined hierarchy is now composed of Miguel Oliveira, Fabio Quartararo, Marc Marquez, Pol Espargaro, Joan Mir, Brad Binder, Marco Bezzecchi, Johann Zarco, Jack Miller and Maverick Viñales.

Miguel Oliveira improves in 1'50.552 while Joan mir is positioned second: the first three are now within 5/100 of a second!

Halfway through the session, the rain timidly reappears... but that doesn't stop Brad Binder, then fourth, to produce his effort. But after lighting the first two sectors in red, the South African made a minor mistake.

Alex Espargaro fares better by entering the top 10 and ousting his teammate!

The rain is intensifying again and we could well leave it there, with 18 minutes left in the session...

Remy gardner minor fall at turn #7 while Darryn binder does the same in #3.

10 minutes from the checkered flag, it is still raining heavily and no sector has improved.

To Marc Márquez, the impact was still violent and the Honda driver sat in his box, without showing the slightest intention of wanting to leave, except perhaps at the very end for starting tests in the wet.

Conversely, Francis Bagnaia et Jorge Martin, who are not among the prequalified, leave for the last minutes while Marco Bezzecchi suffers a fall in turn #1.

Finally, Miguel Oliveira, Joan Mir, Fabio Quartararo, Brad Binder, Marc Márquez, Pol Espargaro, Marco Bezzecchi, Johann Zarco, Aleix Espargaro and Jack Miller are therefore prequalified for Q2.

FP3 results of the MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix at the Algarve International Autodrome in Portimão:

FP1/FP2/FP3 results of the MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix at the Algarve International Autodrome in Portimão:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com