Miguel Oliveira was able to place on the podium at the Circuit Of The Americas, one of the few tracks on the calendar where he had not been on the rostrum before, on Sunday. Coming through from the fourth row of the grid, the Portuguese worked his way up the order lap after lap, to finally finish in a magnificent third position.
Starting from the fourth, Miguel Oliveira did not have an easy task ahead. However, he got off the line well, completing the first lap in eighth place. From there, the Portuguese began to push and gain places as the laps went by. A key moment in his race came with 8 laps remaining, when he was able to get into third place and start a final charge. Despite escaping and cutting the gap to the rider in second place, he would finish just over 1 second behind, in third.
Aki Ajo – Team Manager
"We should be very happy with the results of the Moto2 race in Austin today, and even more so after the qualifying session yesterday –which didn’t go as expected after a good Friday of Free Practice sessions. Racing is like that sometimes, so of course we need to analyse what happened on Saturday in depth. Today I am very proud of the team and our riders. I thank them for the work done throughout the entire weekend."
#44 Miguel Oliveira
“I am very tired after today's race, because it was a very interesting, demanding round, and also very tough when starting from a position so far back on the grid. The start was not easy, but in the end I was able to avoid contact with other riders on the first corner. Later, as the laps went on, it was difficult because we were skidding around a lot. It was not the perfect weekend for us, but we are back on the podium for the second consecutive race and this makes me happy. Now it's time to go back to Europe and face a circuit where we have ridden a lot: Jerez!”.
After the first three races of the season, the Moto2 World Championship now heads to Europe. Miguel Oliveira will come into the Red Bull Spanish GP at Jerez -on May 6th- in fourth place overall with 43 points.
Results (Race)
1. Francesco Bagnaia (Kalex) 39:30.016
2. Alex Marquez (Kalex) +2.464
3. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +3.704
4. Joan Mir (Kalex) +5.376
5. Iker Lecuona (KTM) +6.867
Moto2 World Championship Standing 2018
1. Francesco Bagnaia (Kalex) 57 points
2. Mattia Pasini (Kalex) 47 points
3. Alex Marquez (Kalex) 47 points
4. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 43 points
5. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Kalex) 39 points
