The 2023 MotoGP season officially kicked off today in Valencia, Spain, with the first official tests taking place at Circuit Ricardo Tormo, stage of the last race of the 2022 season (as is, by the way, usual). Miguel Oliveira tested his new bike, Aprilia RS-GP for the first time, in these pre-season tests, thus making his debut with new colors and in a new team in 2023 and 2024 – in the RNF MotoGP Team.
Having been carried out over two sessions – FP1 and FP2 – the Valencia tests took place today, in the morning and after lunch, under mild temperatures and on dry ground. Miguel Oliveira finished P9 in the morning test session, running in 1m30s936, just +0s611 ahead of session leader Maverick Viñales. And he impressively marked his debut on an Aprilia, finishing the day in P4, having recorded his best time in 1m30s367, just +0s335 from Luca Marini, who set the best pace on Spanish soil.
In addition to having received widespread praise for his impressive pace on the track and for the undeniable empathy with his new bike, the Portuguese was the most successful rider of the day taking into account the other riders rookies in new teams, which makes a promising new era wearing new colors.
This new season, in fact, will be the longest ever, with 21 races scheduled, the first of which to take place in Portugal, at the renowned Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, on the 25th and 26th of March. Before that, another round of tests will be carried out in Sepang, Malaysia, at the end of February.
