Year: 2019

The fourth Grand Prix of the 2019 World Motorcycle Championship season took place yesterday at the Jerez Circuit – Angel Nieto.

Following the conclusion of the fourth race of this season, the riders of the premier class and their  teams extended their stay in Jerez de la Frontera to hold an official test session on Monday.

The Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira and his team took advantage of today to test new parts in order to continue the development and progression of the KTM RC16.

"Today was a very hard day, in which we had a lot of new things to test. It turned out to be a very positive day, because I was a lot faster than yesterday, in race setting conditions and with hard tires. Due to the limitation we have on the use of tires, we just missed a quick turn with the soft tire at the end. The bike did not work as well as we wanted with the soft tire so we did not improve the lap time as much as we wanted, but the ideas we’ve tested have a lot of potential. I felt much better with the bike, so at the end of the day I can say that it was a positive test day for the rhythm and not for the fast time. I'm happy for the rhythm.

The idea is that these solutions we found here in Jerez will help us in the next races, although the characteristics of the circuits now change slightly. We are confident that what we have tested here can help us in the future and in the coming circuits from now on.

A day of testing is always very different from a race. Normally, we always do 4 laps and stop. There are 80 laps, but over a whole day, 6 hours, turns out to be smoother than 20 laps in a row." Miguel Oliveira

In a total of 77 laps, the Portuguese rider made his fastest lap in the 1: 38.649 minute, 2.270 seconds behind Fabio Quartararo.

Miguel Oliveira is back in action on the weekend of 17,18 and 19 May at the Grand Prix de France in Le Mans.

After a difficult weekend for rider Miguel Oliveira and Red Bull KTM Tech3, the fourth race of the 2019 MotoGP season took place today in Jerez.

Almada's rider started from the 22nd place and stood only three postions behind from reaching the points again in the premier class of the World Motorcycle Championship, finishing his fourth race in eighteenth place.

The Red Bull KTM Tech3 rookie started the day in the 21st position, finishing the Warm-Up 1,893 seconds from the leader of the session – Marc Marquez.

While making a good start at the start of the race and also benefiting from some drops and withdrawals from other riders, Miguel Oliveira recovered some pairs of positions compared to his starting position. With a choice of Slick-Hard tires, Miguel Oliveira turned out to be the only rookie to finish the Red Bull Spanish Grand Prix.

"This was a very complicated and difficult weekend, more than we were expecting. On Friday we noticed some difficulty in riding fast. Even though we made some changes in the geometry of the bike to be a bit faster and for me to get better feelings on top of it, the race was very similar to the rest of the weekend. These changes were not as productive as we wanted, but in everything we experienced there were positive things. Tomorrow we have the opportunity to work harder and leave Jerez with a smile. A bike that runs in Jerez will be good at the rest of the circuits here in Europe, so we will work hard to find the best setting possible. The plan for tomorrow is to give priority to testing some new parts, as the new seat that Factory Team has. Then we will give priority to dealing with the geometry of the bike and what we experienced during this weekend. We’ll test what we consider to have the potential to improve my sensations and above all improve the speed on the track that was what we lacked this weekend." Miguel Oliveira

The Portuguese rider is now in seventeenth place in the championship. Before taking on the fifth race of the championship already on the weekend of May 18 and 19 in Le Mans, Miguel Oliveira will still have a day of testing tomorrow, Monday, at the Circuit of Jerez – Angel Nieto.

Race Results:

1. M. Marquez (Honda)

2. A. Rins (Suzuki)

3. M. Viñales (Yamaha)

18. M. Oliveira (KTM)

Miguel Oliveira will start from the twenty-second position, in what is his fourth grand prize in the premier class of the World Motorcycle Championship.

In this complicated Saturday of qualifying, the day began in the Circuit Jerez – Angel Nieto with the first free practices of the day, in which the Portuguese rider was in the 22nd position, improving his best time against the training of Friday in 1,105 seconds. In the third free practice session, Miguel Oliveira made his best time in minute 1:38.669, +1.712 from the first-place finisher, Danilo Petrucci.

The fourth session of free practice was marked by a slower pace from the Almada rider, who reached the twenty-third place of the session, with his best time in minute 1: 39,555, +1,904 from Marc Marquez, the first ranked in the session.

After finishing Q1 in the 12th position, followed by Smith, Rabat and Abraham, Miguel Oliveira will leave tomorrow’s race from the 8th row of the starting grid.

The fourth MotoGP race of the 2019 season has a start scheduled for tomorrow, Sunday, at 13.00 in Portugal.

"Today we had a very difficult qualification. In qualifying we made the possible to match the registration made in the FP3 and, although it was not possible, we improved a lot against the training of yesterday. We are doing everything to find the best possible sensations with the bike here in Jerez and so we tried different things on the bike at geometry level. We are working hard to get the best feeling. Tomorrow we still have the race ahead to make the best of this weekend. The goal is to maintain a good pace in the Warm-Up, to be comfortable with the bike and to attack as much as possible in the race." Miguel Oliveira

Results Score:

1. F. Quartararo (Yamaha) 1: 36.880

2. F. Morbidelli (Yamaha) 1: 36,962 +0.082

3. M. Marquez (Honda) 1: 36,970 +0.090

4. A. Dovizioso (Ducati) 1: 37,018 +0.138

5. M. Viñales (Yamaha) 1: 37,114 +0.234

22. M. Oliveira (KTM) 1: 38,894 +1,730

Characterized as an event that draws crowds from all over the world to see the best riders ever to battle under the sun of Andalusia, this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix is ​​the centerpiece of motorcycle lovers.

After collecting a few more points in Austin, Miguel Oliveira started today’s fourth round of the 2019 season, with the start of the first two free practice sessions at the Jerez Circuit – Angel Nieto.

During the first free practice session, the Almada rider made his best time in the minute 1'40.313, closing the time table in the twenty-third position, 2m392s from the first place of the session belonging to Marc Marquez.

With the development of the day and feeling better with his bike, Red Bull KTM Tech3 rookie improved his time between FP1 and FP2, reducing his best lap time by 0.539 seconds. Miguel Oliveira finished the second practice session also in the twenty-third position, this time with his best time around in minute 1'39.774.

"We had a complicated Friday, but in the second practice we had more speed and better sensations with the bike. Unfortunately, my fastest lap in the last sector was not counted because of the red flag and my best lap was eventually canceled. We know we still have a few tenths to improve and we have some ideas for tomorrow to improve the bike and ride a little faster than today." Miguel Oliveira

The qualifications for the fourth race of the championship will take place tomorrow, Saturday, with the first training sessions of Miguel Oliveira scheduled to start at 08h55. MotoGP qualifications are scheduled for 13h10, in Portugal.

Results – Combined Training (FP1 + FP2)

1. D. Petrucci (Ducati) with 1min37,909

2. M. Marquez (Honda) with 1min37,921

3. A. Dovizioso (Ducati) with 1min38.006s

4. J. Lorenzo (Honda) with 1min38.045s

5. C. Crutchlow (Honda) with 1min38.104s

23. M. Oliveira (KTM) with 1min39,774s.

After a two-week break, the motorcycle world championship returns for another round of twelve races on European ground.

The Portuguese rider from the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team takes action in Europe for the first time in the premier class. Miguel Oliveira is enthusiastic about the Red Bull Grand Prix of Spain in Jerez de la Frontera and intends to continue to score points in the MotoGP World Championship.

The Portuguese rookie arrives in the fourth round with a total of seven points, which he is confident will increase, as this is a circuit in which the rider has already had the opportunity to ride his KTM RC16 during the tests in November.

"Jerez is a Grand Prix that I really like. Firstly, because it is the closest Grand Prix to Portugal and therefore, usually many portuguese fans go to see me. It's very special to me. Secondly, it's a circuit that I also like a lot and so I'm very excited to get back on it. The test in November gave me some insight into what I had to improve in my riding and that was very positive. I'm sure it will be a fantastic weekend. After a two-week break, I can not wait to see the whole team again and get back to work. The main objective for this race is to re-score and the whole team's mindset will be this until the end of the season – always score. After the result in Austin, I want to get back on the bike fast and work hard." Miguel Oliveira

The Red Bull KTM Tech3 team will return to test in the Spanish circuit during the three official days of tests that will happen after the race.

The Almada rider will be back in action tomorrow, Friday, at 8.55 am (Portugal time), during the first free practice session.

After a weekend marked by adverse weather conditions that conditioned the qualifying Saturday, today was the third race of the 2019 season of the MotoGP championship.

The Portuguese rider, Miguel Oliveira, returns to fulfill his main objective and scores again in the premier class of the world motorcycle championship, finishing the race in the fourteenth place.

The Red Bull KTM Tech3 rookie started the day in the 21st position, finishing the Warm-Up  3,051 seconds from the leader of the session – Marc Marquez.

After losing some positions at the start of the race, Oliveira quickly began to recover, also benefiting from some drops and withdrawals from other riders. With a choice of Soft and Medium tires, Miguel Oliveira rode a major part of the race behind the rider Johann Zarco.

"This was a very complicated race. I had a start and a first lap that did not correspond to what I wanted and so I worked hard to recover as many positions as possible. As soon as I started to enter the race rhythm, I felt good with my pace, with the bike and we ended up finishing in the points. That was our main objective for this weekend, in a circuit that is very complicated and difficult. The race was good to understand certain things that ergonomically have to change in the bike so that I feel more comfortable and at the end of the race we can be able tp achieve a better performance than the ones we have right now. We are going to Jerez next, which is a circuit that we like a lot and so we are very optimistic to continue this work. We leave Austin with many good things and we continue to improve our learning curve." Miguel Oliveira

The Portuguese rider continues to make history, being the first Portuguese rider to collect and add points in the premier class of MotoGP. Miguel Oliveira is now in the sixteenth position of the championship and already holds his first ever MotoGP race on European soil on May 4-5 in Jerez de La Frontera, Spain.

Race Rank:

1. A. Rins (Suzuki)

2. V. Rossi (Yamaha) +0.462

3. J. Miller (Ducati) + 8,454

14. M. Oliveira (KTM) +44.272

The Portuguese rider of the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team starts tomorrow race from the eighteenth position, after a qualifying day marked by adverse weather conditions.

Due to the weather conditions on the Circuit of the Americas this Saturday, all free practice sessions 3 were canceled. Like other riders in the premier class, Miguel Oliveira only left for the track to perform the fourth and last practice session, which was based on mixed conditions. At the beginning of the session, the track was still a bit wet and the Portuguese rider even integrated for a few minutes the top 5 of the session. Miguel Oliveira ended up finishing the FP4 in 15th place.

The Almada rider finished the day in the eighth position of Q1, making a brilliant qualifying start by taking the first position of the table for some moments.

"Today was a difficult day due to the weather. It turned out to be very good to get the session dry. We started the FP4 with mixed conditions, with the track still a bit wet, but then it finally dried. Today we were able to confirm some changes to the bike we made yesterday, so we will do our best for tomorrow at the Warm-up to have a good pace and prepare the race as well as possible. We were a bit out of our goal, but tomorrow will be a long and very physical race and therefore we will do our best as always to continue within what is our goal." Miguel Oliveira

The race for the third round of the 2019 MotoGP season is scheduled to start tomorrow, Sunday, at 8pm in Portugal.

Results Score:

1. M. Marquez (Honda) 2'03,787

2. V. Rossi (Yamaha) 2'04,060 +0.273

3. C. Crutchlow (Honda) 2'04.147 +0.360

4. J. Miller (Ducati) 2'04,416 +0.629

5. P. Espargaro (KTM) 2'04,472 +0.685

18. M. Oliveira (KTM) 2'06.543 +2.756

Characterized as one of the most complex circuits in the MotoGP World Championship, the Circuit of the Americas is this weekend the center of attention for the lovers of motorcycling.

After an excellent performance by Miguel Oliveira at the Grand Prix of Argentina, the third grand prix of the 2019 season began today with the start of the first two practice sessions in Austin.

During the first free practice session, the Portuguese rider made his best time in the minute 2'08.035, closing the time table in the twentieth position, 2m724s of the first classified, Marc Marquez.

The rookie of the queen category managed to improve his registration between FP1 and FP2, reducing his best time in 1,759 seconds. Miguel Oliveira finished the second session of free practice in the 21st position, with his best time around in minute 2'06.276.

"We definitely had a tough day here in Austin. This is a very complicated track. It is necessary to know all the details and at the moment me and the team are working very hard, so that we understand the best alternatives to take always in order to obtain the best possible result. We are working to understand which are the best trajectories to do and which are the most beneficial settings to make on the bike. It's normal the first day not to be terrific, especially here in Austin. It is necessary to realize which is the best setup to use and we are working hard as always to get the best result. Tomorrow the weather will be crucial for us to get a good qualifying session and get out as possible in the race on Sunday." Miguel Oliveira

Qualifications for the third round of the championship will take place tomorrow, Saturday, with the first training sessions of Miguel Oliveira, scheduled to begin at 15.55. MotoGP qualifications are due at 8:10 p.m.

Results – Combined Training (FP1 + FP2):

1. M. Viñales (Yamaha) with 2min03,857s

2. M. Marquez (Honda) with 2min03,901s

3. V. Rossi (Yamaha) with 2min04.003s

4. J. Miller (Ducati) with 2min04,005s

5. C. Crutchlow (Honda) with 2min04,118s

21. M. Oliveira (KTM) with 2min06.276s.

After a fantastic performance at the Argentina Grand Prix, the Portuguese MotoGP rider is already in Austin, Texas, aiming to continue to improve on board of his KTM RC16. Miguel Oliveira intends to continue within the positive course he has been working on and to bring from the Circuit Of The Americas more points that will allow him to remain within the TOP 15 of the MotoGP world championship.

After finishing eleventh in Argentina, the rider now intends to maintain his goals and continue to follow up on this good moment of his career.

"The Circuit of the Americas is very interesting. I think this is the track with more corners throughout the championship. It's very long, bumpy, full of ups and downs and so it becomes a very fun track to do and I'm sure riding it on my KTM RC16 will be fantastic! At the moment, we are working to consolidate our position, so that we can punctuate, from now on, in a more solid way. The goal in Austin is to score again and continue to improve the performance of the bike and my riding. We really want to continue to improve with each passing day. I'm very excited about this grand prix!" Miguel Oliveira

Hervé Poncharal, team manager, shows confidence for this next grand prix.

"This is a very interesting and difficult track to master and understand, but with the very strong performance and good feel that the entire Red Bull KTM Tech3 team had in Argentina, I think we all came here to Texas with a lot of optimism, a lot of energy and a willingness to continue to grow, so that we can continue to help the KTM MotoGP project also to progress. There is a positive atmosphere within the KTM MotoGP group. It's exciting and interesting to see Pol (Espargaró) and Miguel pushing each other, which is the best key to the performance. At the end of the day, performance is what it takes to develop a bike. I believe that Miguel and Hafizh will show their best profile, as they did in Argentina, also here in Texas, and we’ll continue with our mission, which is to close the gap from the best riders in all big prizes. We all had a week to rest so we'll be 100% ready to face the challenge!" Hervé Poncharal

The Almada rider is back in action tomorrow, Friday, at 15.55 (Portugal time), with the FP1.

After an impressive weekend, Miguel Oliveira fulfills his goal and reaches his first points in the premier class of the MotoGP World Championship.

The Portuguese rider of the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team started his Sunday in the Top 10, finishing the Warm Up session in ninth place, ahead of all other KTM bikes.

Miguel Oliveira has always proved to be confident for the Argentina Grand Prix, which was confirmed in the race after he started it from the fourteenth position to finish it in a magnificent eleventh place, bringing with him 5 points from the Thermas of Río Hondo Circuit.

The portuguese lost a couple of positions at the start of the race, which he quickly recovered and managed to gain some positions against his starting position. With a choice of Hard and Medium tires, Miguel Oliveira performed a steady and consistent race, which allowed him to create a favorable distance between the pilots who pursued him and to maintain a strategic distance from the pilots in front of him. Already at the end of the race, the pilot tried to overtake the Espargaro brothers, ending up behing only by a couple of tenths of Pol Espargaro.

In addition to finishing the race as the second best rookie, Miguel Oliveira was also the second best KTM.

"I'm very happy with this race. Staying in the points was our goal and this makes me very happy for myself and the team. We did a good race, with a good pace. I am very happy with my evolution, in general, and with the bike. I feel like we are on a good way as we are only one tenth of the best KTM and this leaves us very motivated to continue working on the best course. This is a hard work, but we are getting the most out of the bike and that leaves us very happy. Now it’s time to go to Texas to find a new track with this bike and we are motivated to continue a good job " Miguel Oliveira

Miguel Oliveira made history once again, being the first Portuguese rider to achieve points in the premier class of MotoGP, being now in the fifteenth position of the championship.

Race Results:

1. M. Marquez (Honda)

2. V. Rossi (Yamaha) +9.816

3. A. Dovizioso (Ducati) +10.530

11. M. Oliveira (KTM) +25.855