By Melody Gross 
Written by Bernardo Figueredo on 20 October 2023 at 06:25
Miguel Oliveira had a complicated first day in Australia today, almost always finishing at the bottom of the timesheets at both sessions. At the end of the last session, the Portuguese driver finished in penultimate place, which means he will have to pass Q1 tomorrow.
Oliveira started the day in the first free practice session, which had no impact on direct qualification for Division Two. However, Oliveira was almost always outside the top ten in this session and ended up 21st and penultimate, setting his best lap of 1:31.163 minutes, on the 13th lap of the 19 laps he completed. The Portuguese driver finished the race 2.124 seconds behind the fastest driver in the session, Jorge Martin.
When the afternoon arrived, the indicators did not improve for the Portuguese. In a session where it was important to finish in the top 10 to ensure direct access to Q2, the Portuguese driver was never in the top 10, finishing only briefly in 11th place. Furthermore, Falcao was always at the bottom and finished 20th and second-to-last, 1.768 seconds behind Brad Binder. The Portuguese rider will be looking for a better feeling on his bike, but he already knows that he will have to get through Q1 tomorrow.