Oliveira wins Portugal’s maiden MotoGP pole
For the first time ever, Portugal has a MotoGP polesitter.
Of course, the man to do it was Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech3) as the home hero produced an outstanding final lap in Q2 at the Grande Premio MEO de Portugal to secure a memorable MotoGP pole – his first.
His 1:38.892 lap record was enough to see him beat Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) by 0.044 seconds in a rip-roaring final qualifying session of the season.
Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) is on the front row in P3 but Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) starts from P20, a disaster from the newly-crowned World Champion.
Portuguese GP Qualifying Results
| POS | RIDER | TEAM | GAP |
| 1 | Miguel Oliveira | Tech3 KTM | 1m38.892s |
| 2 | Franco Morbidelli | Petronas Yamaha | 0.044s |
| 3 | Jack Miller | Pramac Ducati | 0.146s |
| 4 | Cal Crutchlow | LCR Honda | 0.264s |
| 5 | Fabio Quartararo | Petronas Yamaha | 0.307s |
| 6 | Stefan Bradl | Honda | 0.312s |
| 7 | Johann Zarco | Avintia Ducati | 0.346s |
| 8 | Maverick Vinales | Yamaha | 0.368s |
| 9 | Pol Espargaro | KTM | 0.392s |
| 10 | Alex Rins | Suzuki | 0.575s |
| 11 | Takaaki Nakagami | LCR Honda | 0.639s |
| 12 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 0.695s |
| 13 | Brad Binder | KTM | 0.498s |
| 14 | Aleix Espargaro | Aprilia | 0.870s |
| 15 | Francesco Bagnaia | Pramac Ducati | 1.127s |
| 16 | Alex Marquez | Honda | 1.157s |
| 17 | Valentino Rossi | Yamaha | 1.166s |
| 18 | Danilo Petrucci | Ducati | 1.199s |
| 19 | Lorenzo Savadori | Aprilia | 1.282s |
| 20 | Joan Mir | Suzuki | 1.398s |
| 21 | Tito Rabat | Avintia Ducati | 1.535s |
| 22 | Mika Kallio | Tech3 KTM | 2.861s |