The final battle against the clock in Portimao was a close call for the intermediate class but Remy Gardner’s speed in the final sector was unrivalled as the Australian claimed pole position in the final couple of minutes of Q2. Luca Marini made his bid for pole as well but eventually had to surrender to Gardner by one tenth of a second, while Fabio Di Giannantonio joins them on the front row of the grid to end his season on a high.

Enea Bastianini was slow to warm up in Q2 and only joined the top ten in the final couple of minutes but he was fast when it counted and the championship leader missed out on the front row by only one thousandth of a second. Rival Sam Lowes gave it his all in one big push early on, before the pain kicked in, and held provisional pole early on but even after the final time attack, his time was still good enough for fifth, putting the two main title contenders next to each other on the grid. Jorge Martin joins the second row of the grid after sneaking out of Q1.

Nicolo Bulega, Augusto Fernandez and Marcos Ramirez make up row three, only three tenths of a second off pole, while Tetsuta Nagashima rounded out the top ten, with Hector Garzo and Q1 leader Marco Bezzecchi keeping him company on the fourth row. Fifth row is an all-Spanish affair with Xavi Vierge, Jorge Navarro and Aron Canet, the rookie’s result impacted by an early and pretty scary crash at turn 8 that required some quick reflexes from the rivals around him.

Results: