Miguel Oliveira finished the Q♐atar MotoGP test just 19th on the timesheets, one place ahead of rookie team-mate Iker Lecuona.

The good news f🌠or the P♑ortuguese was that his race pace is 'much better than half of the riders in front of us'.

But unless a solution to the flying lap woes is found, the Tech3 KTM rider is in danger of losing too much time in the early stages of the upcoming season-opening night&nbs🍬p;race.

“About the time attack, we are still very far away from what we need to be," said Oliveira, who was 1.150s behind&n𒆙bsp;Yamaha's Maverick Vinales.

"We couldn’t really use the soft tyre to make a lap time and we mainly focused on the medium tyre to find a race pace, which is right now much better than h💯alf of the riders in front🍃 of us.

"This is quite scar💜y, but also positive, in a way.

"Of course, we need to start the race a bit further in front. We have some ideas for🐬 the race weekend.

"Testing is always a bit tricky, because many riders do a quick lap time and the𓂃y don’t really have a pace. In race conditions, you can really see who is faster and who is n🧜ot.

"So, I hope in less than two weeks’ time, we can figure out a 𒅌way to ext♔ract a good lap time.”

Lecuona, whose fastest lap was just 0.293s slower than Oliveira, said: "I have to admit, that I’m not totally happy about toda♔y, as there are many factors to manage, from finding grip and staying in one direction to work on.

"When I see the three complete days of test here, I can say, th෴at I’m 💛satisfied, although there are still things to improve.”

Tech3 team manager Hervé Poncharal pointed out that, while the final positions are almost the same as at last year's Qatar test, t🔴he gap to the front is smaller.

Oliveira was 0.415s closer to the top this time♓ around and Lecuona -0.720s compared to predecessor Hafizh Syahrin.

"We knew that the Losail International Circuit was going to be more difficult than what we experienced in Malaysia, that this circuit is a tough one for us and although the final positions are not looking great tonight, the gap to the leaders is a lot smaller than last year,"💜 Poncharal said.

"I can’t say that we are 100 percent hap🎉py, but I believe we gathered a lot of useful data. I trust Miguel, Iker a🍒nd the whole Tech3 crew to find some solutions to get a few tenths, that will take us further towards the front.

"MotoGP itself is definitely a🐎 lot more competitive than it used to be in the past. We have 18 riders within a second, which is showing how close everything is and how small improvements can make you jump a few positions.

"As usual and always, I want to see the glass half full and not half empty, so we give ourselves a few days of rest, a few days 🐟of thinking, a few days of finding some good ideas and we’ll be back in Qatar and hopefully where we would like to be, which is in top 10/top 12 positions.”

While the Tech3 riders struggled for a fast lap, Factory KTM's Brad Binder surprised with ninth place on new tyres.