Month: February 2019

Red Bull KTM Tech3 duo, Miguel Oliveira and Hafizh Syahrin, finished today's preseason tests at Losail International Circuit, in Qatar, with a positive perception before the first round of the 2019 MotoGP World Championship, which will begin on the weekend of March 9 and 10.

With a total of 28 laps on the last day of testing, Miguel Oliveira improved his lap time achieving 1: 55.773, 1,118 seconds faster than the first day of testing.

Position: 18^th – Time: 1:55.773 – Laps: 28

“Today we definitely found harder conditions than the two previous days because of the wind. We started a bit slow in terms of lap time, but then I was picking up the pace and riding quite good. Unfortunately, a crash ended the test, but I felt I was coming stronger and also the team made quite a few changes to the bike, with which I was very satisfied. I think we ended this test without really arrive at the limit and extract the maximum of the bike, so we leave an extra few tenths in the pocket for the GP.”

The start of the 2019 season for the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team was held today with the official presentation in Mattighofen, Austria. The rider Miguel Oliveira, who will race for the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team in the present season of the MotoGP World Championship was at the presentation today to reveal the new blue and orange colors, with chrome plated, of his RC16.

 “I’m very happy with the new colors, the bike is amazing. The outlook of everything is just incredible, quite different from what we are used to. It’s such a nice project, that KTM and Red Bull got together; to have two factory teams on the grid is something pretty unique and it shows clearly, that KTM soon wants to dominate also this class and road racing in general. I’m just really proud and I feel privileged to be a part of this project.”

The first 2019 official tests that took place in the Sepang International Circuit finished today. The Red Bull KTM Tech3 Team duo, Miguel Oliveira and Hafizh Syahrin, completed the pre-season tests in Malaysia, with significant improvements after three intense days of work.

For Miguel Oliveira, the third and final day of testing at Sepang was used to compare different geometry  settings and tires. It was a positive day for the rider, who lowered his pace from Wednesday by a full second, surpassing the 2-minute barrier, with a total of 38 laps. It’s also important to refer that rookie Miguel Oliveira was only 0.309 seconds from the best KTM.

Position: 19º – Time: 1: 59.672 – Laps: 38

"My lap time was good. I was expecting it to be faster, but the combination of the best configuration of the bike and the best type of tire came only later. However, I am very close to the two Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team riders, which is something no one expected. I think this is the most positive point of these three days of work. We have been quite competitive with the used tires, which is good for the race. At this moment, although I feel that the maximum potential of the team is yet to come, I can see clearly the progress that has been made. The next step is to take all the lessons learned these days to the upcoming official tests in Qatar and to make more progress.”

Position: 20th – Time: 2: 00.672 – Laps: 61

The Red Bull KTM Tech3 team faced a second hard testing day at the Sepang International Circuit, working intensely under temperatures above 60°C.

After a first day of tough tests, the Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira completed another day of work, making a total of 61 laps on his KTM RC16. The day was guided by the evaluation of different components, from the chassis to the engine.

Rookie Miguel Oliveira finished this second day of testing in Malaysia in 20th place, improving his lap time against yesterday's tests by 0.230 seconds.

“It seems like we can improve our lap time every day a little bit. With the used tyres I was quite happy with my performance, also with the performance of the bike. It was only the last run, that we couldn’t improve the lap time, because we ran a different traction control setting, which was really something else and combined with the new tyre, it didn’t work. We had to learn, which direction to take and will finetune this area tomorrow to be able to go faster. I’m very motivated, plus the team is doing a great job, we understand the bike more and more. Today we were only missing the time attack, but I would say we are quite strong and on a good direction.”