Miguel Oliveira to miss Argentina MotoGP after Portimao crash
Miguel Oliveira will not compete in this weekend’s Argentina MotoGP due to an injury sustained in his crash with Marc Marquez.
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Marc Marquez to miss Argentina MotoGP after undergoing thumb surgery
Marc Marquez has been deemed medically unfit and will not compete in the Argentina Grand Prix following the Portimao crash.
Valencia MotoGP: Miller tops afternoon practice ahead of Espargaro(Results)
ack Miller ended Friday at the Valencia Grand Prix fastest with a rapid final tour in FP2, the Aussie narrowly leading Honda’s Pol Espargaro. The final Friday practice session of the season started out pretty much bone-dry following a wet opening test of the weekend just hours earlier, allowing the riders to lap around six second per-lap faster immediately. Times continued to drop throughout the session as the track rubbered in further and further, with a final qualifying-like shootout taking place in the closing minutes to decide a potentially crucial top ten if the rain makes another appearance on Saturday. Miller ended up finding the most time on his final effort as he fired in a 1:30.927s to move ahead of Ducati team-mate Francesco Bagnaia, though the Italian would ultimately be shuffled back to third by the session’s conclusion by Espargaro. The Spaniard looked good to further improve on his best lap on his final circulation, though asked a little too much from the front-tyre of his Honda and went down at Turn 6. Alex Rins ended up fourth for Suzuki ahead of Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martin, while Takaaki Nakagami lifted himself well into the top ten in sixth with a late improvement of his own. Joan Mir-who scored his one and only career MotoGP win at Valencia last year-ended Friday seventh ahead of KTM’s Brad Binder, while Andrea Dovizioso was a surprise ninth for Petronas SRT Yamaha having struggled for speed in recent races, the Italian only 0.670s adrift of Miller’s benchmark as the only Yamaha rider in the top ten. Johann Zarco completed the ten that could possibly decide who heads directly to the pole shootout on Saturday afternoon, the Frenchman denying countryman and 2021 world champion Fabio Quartararo the spot by just over a tenth-of-a-second. Franco Morbidelli held position at the head of the timesheets for a significant portion of the session before being shuffled to 13th by the end, while Alex Marquez struggled to match the speed of his fellow Honda pilot’s down in 14th. Aprilia continued their recent raw speed deficit with Aleix Espargaro 12th ahead of team-mate Maverick Vinales in 18th, while Valentino Rossi’s final MotoGP weekend continued to look challenging as he ended the day 21st and last-albeit only 1.3 seconds from the ultimate pace. VALENCIA MOTOGP, CIRCUIT RICARDO TORMO – FREE PRACTICE (2) RESULTS POS RIDER NAT TEAM TIME/DIFF LAP MAX 1 Jack Miller AUS Ducati Team (GP21) 1’30.927s 19/20 329k 2 Pol Espargaro SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +0.012s 19/19 331k 3 Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Team (GP21) +0.068s 19/20 331k 4 Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.409s 19/19 327k 5 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP21)* +0.469s 17/17 329k 6 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) +0.500s 20/20 331k 7 Joan Mir SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.586s 19/20 327k 8 Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) +0.594s 20/20 327k 9 Andrea Dovizioso ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +0.670s 19/22 324k 10 Johann Zarco FRA Pramac Ducati (GP21) +0.676s 20/21 332k 11 Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +0.781s 16/17 323k 12 Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) +0.893s 20/21 326k 13 Franco Morbidelli ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +0.905s 11/20 321k 14 Alex Marquez SPA LCR Honda (RC213V) +0.925s 20/20 327k 15 Danilo Petrucci ITA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +1.156s 19/21 321k 16 Iker Lecuona SPA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +1.171s 17/18 331k 17 Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM (RC16) +1.281s 19/21 329k 18 Maverick Vinales SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) +1.287s 14/16 324k 19 Enea Bastianini ITA Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +1.292s 14/14 326k 20 Luca Marini ITA Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +1.302s 18/19 320k 21 Valentino Rossi ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +1.358s 17/19 324k
Algarve MotoGP: Bagnaia takes pole, Quartararo will start from seventh
Ducati rider Francesco Bagnaia scored a remarkable fifth consecutive pole in MotoGP at Portimao, while champion Fabio Quartararo – who had managed the same feat earlier this season – was only seventh. Quartararo and Bagnaia had run the show through practice, but it was Jack Miller who uncorked a Portimao record lap early on in the pole shoot-out instead, with neither of the two favourites even in the top three at the halfway mark of the session. Yet Bagnaia jumped narrowly ahead of team-mate Miller with his very first attempt on his second run, and found another tenth of a second with a follow-up effort moments before the chequered flag. Miller improved too, but only by seven thousandths, leaving him to prop up a Ducati 1-2 that would have been a 1-2-3-4 if not for the efforts of Suzuki rider Joan Mir. Mir beat the closely-matched Pramac Ducati duo of Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco to record his best-ever MotoGP qualifying, although he was seen angrily giving a piece of his mind to Alex Marquez (LCR Honda) – who had passed him into Turn 1 on their last laps – after the chequered flag. Despite being world champion in 2020, Mir had never previously qualified above fourth in MotoGP – though he was elevated to third by a Zarco penalty at last year’s Styrian GP. Pol Espargaro was the lead Honda rider in sixth, a place that would’ve gone to Quartararo had he not had his fastest lap in the session deleted for a yellow flag infringement – the yellow flags having been caused by a Luca Marini Turn 14 crash. Quartararo only lost one place as a consequence, and will be joined by Marquez and team-mate Franco Morbidelli on the third row. Iker Lecuona, who was comfortably the fastest KTM of the quartet in Q1 and advanced to Q2 with Zarco, will lead row four, joined by Alex Rins (Suzuki) and Marini (VR46 Ducati). Avintia rider (and Marini’s semi-team-mate) Enea Bastianini briefly looked like joining his many Ducati peers in Q2, but was shuffled down to 13th by a late Q1 improvement from Zarco. Aleix Espargaro was a further tenth down in fourth in Q1, as the lead Aprilia rider (four places up on team-mate Maverick Vinales), while Danilo Petrucci was the closest KTM rider to his team-mate Lecuona in Q1, and will complete the fifth row. It was therefore a bruising session for KTM’s factory riders. Home hero Miguel Oliveira was just a couple of hundredths off Petrucci and 16th-placed Valentino Rossi, but was almost half a second down on Lecuona – at a track where Oliveira had won last year. It was worse still for team-mate Brad Binder, who will line up at the head of row seven and was nearly seven tenths off Lecuona, not helped by an early-Q1 crash at the sharp Turn 3. The only other rider to fall in Q1 was Takaaki Nakagami, with the Japanese LCR Honda rider’s late off at the hairpin-like Turn 5 consigning him to last place on the grid. ALGARVE MOTOGP, PORTIMAO – FULL QUALIFYING RESULTS POS RIDER NAT TEAM TIME/DIFF LAP MAX 1 Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Team (GP21) 1’38.725s 7/8 335k 2 Jack Miller AUS Ducati Team (GP21) +0.104s 7/8 342k 3 Joan Mir SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.168s 3/7 332k 4 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP21)* +0.191s 7/8 342k 5 Johann Zarco FRA Pramac Ducati (GP21) +0.193s 6/8 342k 6 Pol Espargaro SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +0.333s 6/7 341k 7 Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +0.406s 7/7 331k 8 Alex Marquez SPA LCR Honda (RC213V) +0.466s 6/7 338k 9 Franco Morbidelli ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +0.596s 3/7 329k 10 Iker Lecuona SPA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +0.662s 7/8 333k 11 Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.924s 3/7 332k 12 Luca Marini ITA Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +1.103s 5/6 331k Qualifying 1: 13 Enea Bastianini ITA Avintia Ducati (GP19)* 1’39.283s 7/8 338k 14 Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 1’39.389s 7/8 335k 15 Danilo Petrucci ITA KTM Tech3 (RC16) 1’39.595s 7/8 328k 16 Valentino Rossi ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) 1’39.604s 7/8 333k 17 Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM (RC16) 1’39.624s 3/8 330k 18 Maverick Vinales SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) 1’39.738s 3/7 331k 19 Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) 1’39.859s 6/7 336k 20 Stefan Bradl GER Repsol Honda (RC213V) 1’39.907s 7/8 335k 21 Andrea Dovizioso ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) 1’39.918s 7/8 331k 22 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) 1’40.009s 5/5 334k
Bagnaia leads Quartararo with 0.001s in Algarve MotoGP FP3
Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia led MotoGP world champion Fabio Quartararo by just 0.001 seconds in an extremely tight Algarve Grand Prix FP3. Despite clear skies bathed in bright sunshine, conditions were cold for the third 45-minute session of the Algarve weekend. This meant lap time improvements on the combined order were few and far between for most of FP3. Suzuki’s Joan Mir was the first major improver on the combined order, the 2020 world champion moving up to third with a 1m39.586s – which also put him top of the individual FP3 timesheet. But this would be the most significant lap for some time, with LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami the only other rider able to improve into the top 10 with 25 minutes of the session gone. Despite the lack of combined order improvements, the field still went for fresh slicks in the closing stages for a final time attack to try and secure a direct place in Q2 for this afternoon’s qualifying. With seven minutes to go Quartararo finally bettered his Friday time with a 1m39.206s to slightly extend his advantage at the top of the combined timesheets. But it wouldn’t keep him top for long, as Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia found 0.004s to edge ahead with a 1m39.202s moments later. A flurry of late lap times would shake up the top 10 order as the session wound down, but Bagnaia would remain fastest of all. However, Yamaha’s Quartararo found a 1m39.203s on his final lap to shadow Bagnaia by 0.001s – setting up a titanic battle for pole position later today. Mir completed the top three, missing top spot by just 0.025s on his Suzuki, with Ducati’s Jack Miller jumping up to fourth late on ahead of top Honda runner Alex Marquez on the LCR-run RC213V. Franco Morbidelli had a wild ride to sixth on the second of the factory Yamahas ahead of Suzuki’s Alex Rins, while Pol Espargaro bagged a place in Q2 on the factory Honda ahead of Avintia rookie Luca Marini and Pramac’s Jorge Martin. Just 0.461s covered the top 10, with Nakagami denied a place in Q2 by 0.005s from Tech3’s Iker Lecuona, who was comfortably top KTM on a continuing difficult weekend for the Austrian brand. Home hero Miguel Oliveira – who said on Friday he’s “hit a wall” in terms of going faster – did manage to find nine tenths compared to his Friday best, but that was still only good enough for 15th and was still 0.859s off the pace. He’ll face Q1 later along with the likes of Petronas SRT duo Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso, and both Aprilias of Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro. ALGARVE MOTOGP, PORTIMAO – FREE PRACTICE (3) RESULTS POS RIDER NAT TEAM TIME/DIFF LAP MAX 1 ^1 Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Team (GP21) 1’39.202s 15/18 339k 2 ˅1 Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +0.001s 20/20 330k 3 ^1 Joan Mir SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.025s 13/16 332k 4 ˅1 Jack Miller AUS Ducati Team (GP21) +0.160s 18/19 344k 5 ^2 Alex Marquez SPA LCR Honda (RC213V) +0.173s 19/20 336k 6 ^6 Franco Morbidelli ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +0.274s 19/19 328k 7 ^3 Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.348s 19/20 336k 8 ˅3 Pol Espargaro SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +0.350s 17/18 339k 9 ^6 Luca Marini ITA Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +0.378s 17/18 336k 10 ^1 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP21)* +0.461s 17/19 341k 11 ˅2 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) +0.466s 18/19 338k 12 ^8 Iker Lecuona SPA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +0.681s 18/19 335k 13 ^3 Enea Bastianini ITA Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +0.734s 16/18 334k 14 ˅8 Johann Zarco FRA Pramac Ducati (GP21) +0.793s 18/19 340k 15 ^4 Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM (RC16) +0.859s 18/19 332k 16 ˅3 Danilo Petrucci ITA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +1.005s 17/17 332k 17 ^4 Valentino Rossi ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +1.011s 18/19 335k 18 ˅1 Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) +1.011s 17/17 334k 19 ˅1 Stefan Bradl GER Repsol Honda (RC213V) +1.080s 20/20 338k 20 ^2 Andrea Dovizioso ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +1.162s 19/19 334k 21 ˅7 Maverick Vinales SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) +1.414s 13/15 332k 22 ˅14 Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) +1.624s 4/18 341k
Algarve MotoGP: Quartararo maintains good form as he dominates FP2 (results)
2021 MotoGP world champion Fabio Quartararo topped the second practice for the Algarve Grand Prix aboard his Yamaha, the Frenchman once again leading Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia. Suzuki’s Joan Mir set the early pace in FP2 with a 1m41.495s, with LCR’s Takaaki Nakagami edging ahead of him with a 1m40.985s just over six minutes into the session. Moments later Nakagami’s teammate Alex Marquez moved to the top of the order with a 1m40.862s, which put him ninth on the combined times which were still headed by FP1 pacesetter Quartararo. Just as they did in FP1, both Quartararo and Bagnaia traded session-best laps, with Bagnaia moving to the top of the order with a 1m40.413s with just under 10 minutes of the session gone. Six minutes later Quartararo deposed his Ducati rival with a 1m40.355s, which the Yamaha rider improved to a 1m40.304s 15 minutes later. About a minute later, Bagnaia finally toppled Quartararo’s FP1 time to take over top spot overall with a 1m40.007s. In the closing moments, a late flurry of fast laps set the timing screens ablaze, with Mir returning to the top of the pile with a 1m39.680s. This was soon bested by Ducati’s Jack Miller, who fired in a 1m39.611s – only to be denied ending Friday fastest when Quartararo took the chequered flag with a 1m39.390s. Quartararo’s day almost ended in disaster, though, when he had a moment at Turn 13, but managed to just about stay on top of his Yamaha. A final effort of 1m39.552s moved Bagnaia up to second to once again shadow Quartararo, while again Miller rounded out the top three. Mir was fourth fastest in the end ahead of Honda’s Pol Espargaro and the Pramac Ducati of Johann Zarco. Alex Marquez carried forward his early pace in FP2 to finish Friday strongly in seventh from Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro, Nakagami on the sister LCR-run Honda and the second of the Suzukis of Alex Rins. Jorge Martin stood on the precipices of the top 10 in 11th, 0.003s behind Rins, with Franco Morbidelli behind in 12th on his Yamaha. Petronas SRT duo Valentino Rossi and Andrea Dovizioso occupied the final two spots on the order, while home hero Miguel Oliveira on the KTM was a mystifying 1.5s off the pace down in 19th behind Marc Marquez’s stand-in Stefan Bradl on the Honda. ALGARVE MOTOGP, PORTIMAO – FREE PRACTICE (2) RESULTS POS RIDER NAT TEAM TIME/DIFF LAP MAX 1 = Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) 1’39.390s 20/21 331k 2 = Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Team (GP21) +0.132s 18/18 339k 3 = Jack Miller AUS Ducati Team (GP21) +0.221s 19/20 341k 4 ^1 Joan Mir SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.290s 18/20 335k 5 ^2 Pol Espargaro SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +0.402s 20/20 336k 6 ^7 Johann Zarco FRA Pramac Ducati (GP21) +0.499s 17/17 343k 7 ^4 Alex Marquez SPA LCR Honda (RC213V) +0.652s 18/18 336k 8 ^2 Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) +0.679s 18/18 341k 9 ^3 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) +0.732s 19/19 339k 10 ˅6 Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.786s 19/19 339k 11 ^6 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP21)* +0.789s 18/18 340k 12 ˅3 Franco Morbidelli ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +0.835s 16/18 328k 13 ^3 Danilo Petrucci ITA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +0.841s 19/20 335k 14 ˅6 Maverick Vinales SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) +0.894s 18/19 336k 15 ˅9 Luca Marini ITA Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +0.933s 18/18 332k 16 ^4 Enea Bastianini ITA Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +1.077s 18/18 336k 17 ˅2 Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) +1.108s 17/18 336k 18 ^3 Stefan Bradl GER Repsol Honda (RC213V) +1.310s 18/19 338k 19 ˅1 Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM (RC16) +1.545s 17/18 330k 20 ˅6 Iker Lecuona SPA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +1.707s 7/18 334k 21 ^1 Valentino Rossi ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +1.784s 17/17 330k 22 ˅3 Andrea Dovizioso ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +1.824s 18/20 328k
Valentino Rossi to enter endurance racing after MotoGP exit
As Valentino Rossi’s MotoGP career nears its conclusion, the Italian begins preparations for a four-wheel future. With the end of his MotoGP career now just ten days away, Valentino Rossi began preparations for his future as a racing car driver with a sportscar test at Misano yesterday. “Now it’s two races in a row, so it’s ten days. Imagine ten days compared to 26 years! It’s nothing,” Rossi said of his remaining time in MotoGP, consisting of back-to-back events at Portimao and Valencia. “It’s a very emotional moment, sincerely, and I want to try to stay concentrated to give the maximum to the end of the season. “This for me is very important because in Misano my race was not too bad and I want to try to give the maximum and remain concentrated, not think a lot about what happens on the Monday after Valencia.” “I’m still a rider and I want to give the maximum and try to enjoy these last two races. “Here in April, the weekend was difficult but in the race I was quite fast, I was in the top ten but unfortunately I crashed. So we need to make the maximum and try to be competitive to fight for the top ten.” Just before flying to this weekend’s penultimate round, the Italian was on track in a Kessel Ferrari alongside brother Luca Marini and VR46’s Uccio Salucci to prepare for their annual winter appearance in the Gulf 12 hours. But this time the preparations are more serious, marking the start of Rossi’s four-wheel ‘career’, with the nine-time world champion confirming he will then enter at least one of the major sportscar championships in 2022. “I tried the Ferrari yesterday in Misano because we will race in Abu Dhabi in January with Luca and Uccio,” Rossi confirmed. “This is the race that we always do in the last three years and in general it’s just for fun. “But we did a test – unfortunately the weather was not fantastic – but we enjoy a lot. I was not so bad. I feel good. And next year I become a car driver! So from now the approach [to car racing] and the effort is different. “But this [Gulf 12 Hours] race is still for fun and after we need to understand which championship and which program for next year.” “Sincerely Vale was really fast, really strong,” Marini said of the test. “In other tests I was closer to him. Yesterday he was pushing a lot in conditions with some wet spots. He was able to give one second to me. He was really fast, pushed the car at the limit. I was a bit more worried about this. I didn’t want to do any damage. “Also Uccio in wet he was strong. In dry he had less time to improve his lap time. But he had a good test also. We were close. I was one second from Vale and Uccio 1.5-2s from me. “But with the car it’s more difficult to talk about time. The balance of performance can change a lot as the tyres become worn.” Rossi added that the decision on which GT championship he enters after the Gulf 12 Hours is yet to be made, but he also seems to have one eye on the prestigious new Hypercar class for 2023. “It’s a very important moment for the GT races and Endurance races because they will do this new class that is called Hypercar and for 2023 all the big names in cars, the factories, also Ferrari, Porsche, Audi will race with these cars,” Rossi explained. “Next years I will race with GT cars. I still don’t know which championship because it can be the WEC but can be also European Le Mans series or International GT challenge. “We need to decide, also with which car, and I need to understand also my level and my speed because for sure I would like to race with LMP2 or with Hypercar [prototypes] but there the level of the drivers is very high. So I don’t know if I am fast enough. We will try to understand next year.” Petronas Yamaha rider Rossi and rookie Marini are currently locked in a battle to avoid being last of the full time riders in the MotoGP world championship standings, the pair currently separated by just two points, with Marini in front. Marini will continue to race for Rossi’s VR46 team as it graduates to a full MotoGP entry next season.
Quartararo will not be changing plate to #1 in 2022
New MotoGP champion Fabio Quartararo has stated that he will not race with the #1 plate next year. Quartararo moved to an unassailable, 65-point championship lead with two rounds to go when he finished fourth and Francesco Bagnaia crashed out of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. However, the Monster Energy Yamaha rider will stick with his trademark #20 in 2022, rather than taking #1. “No, we will not see this number because I started with the #20 and I feel like I’m not number one,” he said. “So, I will keep going with the #20 until the end of my career because it’s the number that really made me want to start when I was four, and it’s a really special number.” The #1 plate is a relative rarity on the premier class grid. In the last decade, including 2021, four different riders have won the championship yet none of those opted to change from their regular number the next year. In addition to Quartararo, Marc Marquez six times chose to stick with #93, Joan Mir kept #36 this year, and Jorge Lorenzo only made the change after achieving his 2010 MotoGP title. Casey Stoner is the last person to have ridden with #1, in 2012, and Mick Doohan the last to win the championship with it, in 1998. In addition to the riders’ championship, Yamaha leads the teams’ standings and remains in contention for the manufacturers’ title, trailing Ducati by 12 points. Quartararo says there will be no problem being focused for this weekend’s Algarve Grand Prix despite it being a dead rubber for him personally. “To be honest it was just difficult the first day, on the Tuesday to go back training after Misano,” recalled the Frenchman. “But to refocus again, I think, is quite easy because it’s what I love, to be riding, to race, to fight with these guys. “So I would say it was not so difficult because it’s what I want. More than difficult, I would say I was looking forward to being back.”
Quartararo tops Algarve MotoGP FP1 ahead of Bagnaia
Fabio Quartararo topped the opening practice session for the Algarve Grand Prix after sneaking ahead of Francesco Bagnaia at the death. The newly-crowned MotoGP world champion tussled with erstwhile title rival Bagnaia for the top spot throughout the 45-minute test, the latter eventually getting the upper hand with a 1:40.927s tour just clear of the Yamaha racer and Honda’s Pol Espargaro. Quartararo would later hit back to move back into the lead by just 0.028s as the session entered its closing stages, though Bagnaia would once again dump the Frenchman back to the runners-up place with a storming 1:40.237s, a time that looked to ensure him the plaudits in FP1. Quartararo still had a little left in the tank though as he headed out for a final three-lap push as the clock ticked down, his third lap being the charm as he took the chequered flag to snatch back the top spot by just 0.045s ahead of the Ducati pilot. Jack Miller ended up third on the second factory Ducati machine ahead of Suzuki duo Alex Rins and Joan Mir, while Luca Marini was an impressive sixth on his Avintia-run Desmosedici despite losing an even better tour after running wide on his final attempt. Espargaro ended up seventh ahead of Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales, while Franco Morbidelli found himself shuffled back to ninth having run within the top three towards the end of the test on the other factory Yamaha M1, the Italian just clear of Aleix Espargaro who completed the top ten. LCR Honda duo just missed out on the top ten with Alex Marquez leading Takaaki Nakagami in 11th and 12th respectively, while KTM once again found the goings tough. Iker Lecuona ended up as the Austrian marque’s highest-placed rider in 14th on his Tech 3-prepared RC16 just ahead of factory man Brad Binder, while 2020 Portimao victor and home hero Miguel Oliveira could manage only 17th on the timesheets. Andrea Dovizioso was the quickest of the Petronas SRT Yamaha’s-albeit down in 19th-with team-mate Valentino Rossi propping up the table in 22nd and last, just behind the injured Marc Marquez’s temporary replacement Stefan Bradl in the factory Honda stable. ALGARVE MOTOGP, PORTIMAO – FREE PRACTICE (1) RESULTS POS RIDER NAT TEAM TIME/DIFF LAP MAX 1 Fabio Quartararo FRA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) 1’40.192s 21/21 334k 2 Francesco Bagnaia ITA Ducati Team (GP21) +0.045s 16/22 339k 3 Jack Miller AUS Ducati Team (GP21) +0.131s 19/19 343k 4 Alex Rins SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.359s 18/20 342k 5 Joan Mir SPA Suzuki Ecstar (GSX-RR) +0.497s 17/19 334k 6 Luca Marini ITA Sky VR46 Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +0.593s 16/18 339k 7 Pol Espargaro SPA Repsol Honda (RC213V) +0.603s 16/19 345k 8 Maverick Viñales SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) +0.661s 20/20 340k 9 Franco Morbidelli ITA Monster Yamaha (YZR-M1) +0.695s 11/17 332k 10 Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia Gresini (RS-GP) +0.697s 20/20 342k 11 Alex Marquez SPA LCR Honda (RC213V) +0.756s 20/22 340k 12 Takaaki Nakagami JPN LCR Honda (RC213V) +0.803s 19/19 338k 13 Johann Zarco FRA Pramac Ducati (GP21) +0.892s 19/20 343k 14 Iker Lecuona SPA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +1.007s 22/22 338k 15 Brad Binder RSA Red Bull KTM (RC16) +1.023s 19/19 339k 16 Danilo Petrucci ITA KTM Tech3 (RC16) +1.104s 18/18 334k 17 Jorge Martin SPA Pramac Ducati (GP21)* +1.156s 19/19 342k 18 Miguel Oliveira POR Red Bull KTM (RC16) +1.183s 18/19 336k 19 Andrea Divizioso ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +1.200s 20/20 334k 20 Enea Bastianini ITA Avintia Ducati (GP19)* +1.364s 17/19 340k 21 Stefan Bradl GER Repsol Honda (RC213V) +1.462s 20/20 338k 22 Valentino Rossi ITA Petronas Yamaha (YZR-M1) +1.888s 7/19 338k
FIM raises MotoGP entry age from 16 to 18 from 2023 onwards
The minimum age to compete in motorcycle grand prix racing will be raised from 16 to 18 for 2023 onwards following changes from the Federation of International Motorcycles (FIM). The raising of the age limit comes following a string of tragic accidents throughout 2021 across the Moto3-based categories as well as the similarly slipstream dependent World Supersport 300 series that culminated in the deaths of Jason Depasquier, Dean Berta Vinales as well Hugo Millan in a Red Bull Rookies race in July. Another frightening accident took place at the Circuit of the Americas during the Moto3 world championship contest three weeks ago, with Deniz Oncu picking up a two-race ban for dangerously cutting across Jeremy Alcoba at high speed, causing several riders to slam into the bikes strewn across the circuit. A document detailing the raft of changes across all FIM ruled series was released on Friday afternoon, revealing that from 2023 the minimum age to enter the Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP world championships will be raised from 16 to 18. Exceptions will be made for riders that enter the ’23 season under the age of 18 that have already competed in ’22, while going forward the champions of the FIM Moto3 Junior world championship and Red Bull Rookies series respectively will be given special dispensation to enter the Moto3 world championship at age 17. These changes come in order to try and reduce the risk the frequency of aggressive riding resulting in incidents, with the bulk of the problems coming from riders aged 16 and under and in series that frequently see large slipstream battles due to the underpowered nature of the motorcycles. The extra time afforded to the younger riders in lower series will hopefully allow them to mature at a better pace, and ideally allowing them to make their world series debuts under much reduced pressure to what they currently have to sustain. The changes would mean that current Moto3 series leader Pedro Acosta – who only recently turned 17 – would have been ineligible to join the full championship this year had the rules already been in place, though theoretically would have been able to enter wildcard events as the reigning Red Bull Rookies champion later in the year. The same could be said for last years Junior Moto3 champion Izan Guevara, who turned 17 in June.