Month: August 2022

It is already between this Friday and Sunday, 2nd to 4th of September, that the 14th event of the MotoGP World Championship takes place, in San Marino, Italy – one of Miguel Oliveira's favorite tracks. The Portuguese rider arrives at the Italian circuit, which honors the name of Marco Simoncelli, within the top 10 of the championship's general classification, with a focus on a good qualification, which will allow him to ascend to the highest place on the podium.

It should be noted that last year, the rider from Charneca de Caparica, who had had a difficult qualification, ended up seeing his race conditioned by a touch with another rider, left his bike without part of the aerodynamic structure and then Oliveira ended up not getting the rhythm he had, having passed the checkered flag in 20th place. In 2019 and 2020, he was 16th and 11th in the races played, respectively.

With more than 40 years of history, the San Marino circuit has become one of the permanent circuits on the MotoGP calendar since 2007, after having been completely overhauled and refurbished. The Italian track has six left and ten right turns, stretching over 4,200 meters in length, totalizing 114 km covered in the 27 crossings scheduled for this Sunday's race.

The San Marino GP timetable:

Friday, september 2nd

FP1 – 08:55-09:40

FP2 – 13:10-13:55

Saturday, september 3rd

FP3 – 08:55-09:40

FP4 – 12:30-13:00

Q1 – 13:10-13:25

Q2 –13:35-13:50

Sunday, september 4th

WUP – 08:40-09:00

Race – 13:00

Miguel Oliveira, after finishing 12th at the Austrian Grand Prix and before the San Marino Grand Prix, the next Sunday, September 4th, has been present on Friday, August 26th, at Festas de Corroios for an autograph session, an event that ended up exceeding the expectations of the event organization.

The autograph session was supposed to last an hour, but Oliveira ended up staying three hours in the venue, as a result of the high number of admirers of the first Portuguese rider to race in the main premier class of motorcycling. Some even arrived at the place 1h30 in advance of the announced time.

Always in a good mood and affectionate with those present, the rider from Charneca de Caparica received a “bath of affection” from his fans, with many asking about his future and which team the pilot from Almada will represent next year, one of the mysteries of the MotoGP paddock.

Always smiling, Miguel Oliveira revealed that his future will be revealed soon, but the truth is that more than information, what fans and admirers wanted was an autograph and a photo with Oliveira, which received a real boost for the 14th race of the season, the San Marino Grand Prix, next weekend, between the 2nd and 4th of September.

It was in 12th position that Miguel Oliveira passed the checkered flag this Sunday at the Red Bull Ring, 'home' of Red Bull and KTM, in Spielberg, Austria. The Austrian circuit hosted the 13th MotoGP Grand Prix and, contrary to the weather forecast, all the races took place on dry ground.

The rider from Almada started the morning with the usual warm-up session, and you can read in his body posture that he knew what it took to win on the track, which in 2022 received a new chicane. He ran his best lap in 1m31s061, closing position 17.

With the red lights off at 1:00 pm this Sunday, with a choice of 'hard' and 'medium' tires, respectively front and back, the Charneca de Caparica's Falcão started from the 6th row of the starting grid, in 17th position. His great start allowed him to fly from 17th directly to 14th, where he remained roughly until the eighth crossing of the finish line.

Resulting from some riders' crashes and overtaking manoeuvres, Oliveira managed to hold on for more than 18 laps in 13th position, when, two laps from the end, he gained a new position due to an opening by Maverick Viñales. It is then that the Portuguese rider manages to cross the finish line in 12th position, +18,035s than winner Francesco Bagnaia, adding 4 points to his classification that keeps him in the top 10 in the general of the queen category, with 85 points.

The next race, the 14th of the MotoGP World Championship, takes place on the weekend of September 2nd to 4th, in San Marino, Italy.

After a Saturday full of new training sessions and qualifications, Miguel Oliveira once again revealed his competitive impetus, making clear his race pace for this Sunday. 1.29.613s was the mark set by the Red Bull KTM rider in the qualifying session, a mark that reflects his departure from the starting grid in 17th place. This departure from the 6th row is a scenario that suggests another cannon start for the Almadense in the race scheduled for 1 p.m tomorrow (Portugal time), a race that will have 28 laps, along approximately 4,300 meters.

In FP3, the Portuguese rider who wears the number 88 launched himself on the asphalt of the Red Bull Ring, oblivious to the rumors about his future, which marked Friday's day. With determination, Falcão made impressive progress during the first training session of the morning, always pushing hard and even managed to top 10 – with one foot in Q2 – for the most of the free practice session. In this FP, Miguel Oliveira managed to substantially improve the combined times on Friday, running his fastest lap at 1.29.821s, +0.857s from Johann Zarco, closing, however, the session with the 18th best time, with practically 19 riders racing within the same second – a fact that reveals the very high competitiveness on the track.

In FP4, as a pre-qualification session, the Portuguese rider once again showed his great race pace, as well as his potential, setting the clock for his fastest lap in this session at 1.30.282s, the 9th best recorded time.

Relegated to the Qualifying 1 (one) session, Oliveira did not give up on the Spielberg circuit, in Austria, and put into practice his 'time attack' to qualify in the best possible way. He recorded his best time at 1.29.613s, thus qualifying in 17th. He will then start tomorrow from the 6th row of the starting grid, on what is the circuit that witnessed his first victory in the MotoGP category, in 2020.

The 13th weekend of the MotoGP Grand Prix has already started, this time at the Red Bull Ring, the 'home' of Red Bull and KTM, in Spielberg, Austria. Miguel Oliveira entered the Austrian track confident, he even set the pace in the first part of the morning free practice session, but a fall in FP2 prevented him from being able to climb the timesheets, although he improved his FP1 performance to to FP2, lowering your lap time.

1.32.422s was the best mark recorded by the pilot from Charneca de Caparica in the first free practice session, a session where he reached 305km/h, having managed to set an excellent pace, especially at the beginning of the session, with the asphalt still wet. The Portuguese rider, who had the 13th best time of the session, quickly adapted to the new layout – a new chicane – and made 21 crossings across the finish line, in a total of 45 minutes of session.

In FP2, Miguel Oliveira managed to improve his personal mark compared to the early morning session, with 1.31.315s, but a fall prevented him from continuing to climb positions in the timesheet, having been ‘parked’ in the 22nd position.

Tomorrow, FP3 starts at 8:55 am and the rest of the day's qualifying times for Sunday's race can be found here .

The 13th round of the MotoGP world championship starts this weekend, between the 19th and the 21st of August, and this time it will be held at “home” for the Red Bull KTM team, at the mythical Red Bull Ring, in Spielberg, Austria.

Miguel Oliveira, who won his first race in the MotoGP category in 2020 at this Austrian track, then heads to this circuit in the top 10 of riders that make up the general classification of the championship, when there are still seven races to go before the end of the season. In 2021, unfortunately, the rider from Charneca de Caparica was unable to finish both races held at the Red Bull Ring, as two Grands Prix were held there in the same year, due to changes in the MotoGP calendar due to the Covid-19.

Built in 1969, the RedBull Ring, which has three left and eight right turns, extends over 4,300 meters in length, totalizing just over 120 km covered along the 28 laps scheduled for the Sunday Race.

The first and second practice sessions are scheduled for this Friday and, as usual, the third and fourth outings for free practice on the track, as well as the qualifying sessions take place on Saturday. Sunday is “the” special day of all weekend… and the race is scheduled for 1 p.m, Portugal local time.

The Silverstone Circuit, in Great Britain, hosted this Sunday the 12th race of the MotoGP world championship. Miguel Oliveira, who at the beginning of the morning in the 'warm up' showed a good pace (recording the 8th best time in the warm-up), surprised again with a good start in the race, as soon as the red lights went out, where he soon won three positions. But it was along the 20 laps of the race, in approximately 120km covered, that he faced a real battle on English asphalt, which allowed him to grab the 6th position, after a start from 13th.

At 1 p.m. o’clock, the 24 riders who made up the starting grid at the British GP rotated their fists for the start of the MotoGP maximum category race. Oliveira, who the day before had qualified with the 13th best time, then starts from the 5th row, and his usual good start immediately puts his KTM RC16 in 10th place – a place he would defend until the fifth passage across the finish line, when it builds the opportunity to start moving up more positions.

Even though he was chased, at least in half of the race, by Enea Bastianini, the Portuguese rider didn't show the natural pressure, showed his excellent race pace and went after more positions. With a handful of laps to go, and after a takedown by Johan Zarco, Miguel held on to 9th place, hoping to catapult him further. He managed to overtake Aleix Espargaro and installed himself in 8th place in pursuit of Fabio Quartararo. It was then that the rider from Almada showed his claws and made an extraordinary overtake of the current championship leader, who placed him in 7th place.

After another pilot’s (Joan Mir) crash, Miguel Oliveira continues to 'pull' with bravery, manages the race to overtake Alex Rins who was in 6th place and takes his place, to maintain this position until the crossing of the checkered flag.

With this 6th place, Miguel Oliveira added 10 more points in the general classification of the championship, thus remaining within the Top10 of the classification.

The incredible MotoGP Sunday was also due to the performance of the Portuguese rider, who also categorically represented the best KTM on the track, throughout the weekend and in this race in particular.

The next race – the 13th of the championship – takes place on the weekend of August 19th to 21st, in Austria, where Miguel Oliveira was already very happy, presenting all the Portuguese, in the year of his debut in the queen category, with a epic victory at the Styria GP – his first in MotoGP.

The day of training and qualifying has already ended in the English city of Silverstone, in Great Britain, which hosts this weekend, on its circuit with 60 years of history, the 12th round of the MotoGP world championship. Miguel Oliveira closed the qualifying day with the 13th fastest time, which means that he will start tomorrow from the 5th row of the grid.

The rider from Almada started FP3 with the consistency that characterizes him, on a morning with good weather conditions, making up the lot of the 10 best times for most of the session. However, the competitiveness on the track put 22 riders in practically the same second '59 and the Portuguese rider was pushed to 14th place, even though he ran at 1.59.066s.

In FP4, Miguel Oliveira's incomparable fast flowing made him to be at the top of the times during practically the entire training, which allowed him to make 13 crossings across the finish line (four less than in the training at the beginning of the morning), having closed this fourth free practice session with the fourth fastest time, at 1.59.297s.

The qualifying session showed all Falcão's confidence and expertise, with a performance that narrowly took him to Q2, where he could have been able to discuss a place further up the starting grid.

The sophistication and efficiency of Miguel Oliveira's driving deserved another outcome this Saturday, but even so, the Portuguese pilot closed his best performance in 1.58.853s, which gave him the 13th best time in the qualifying sessions. Oliveira starts tomorrow, therefore, from the 5th row and the usual spectators of the sport will expect no more than the cannon start so characteristic of the Portuguese river who wears the colors of RedBull KTM until the end of the 2022 season.

After the first two free practice sessions of the British GP weekend, Miguel Oliveira recorded today at the Silverstone Circuit, the 6th best time of the day. The rider from Charneca de Caparica, on his KTM RC 16, achieved the 6th best time in the second “free practice” (FP) this Friday, recording 1.59.163s, just 0.217s from the Frenchman Fábio Quartararo, who grabbed the best combined time of sessions.

In the first free practice session, Oliveira made 16 passes over the finish line and it was on the eighth lap that he achieved his best record of the session, having closed that lap at 02.01.120s, the 14th best time in FP1.

In FP2, the Portuguese pilot who wears the colors of RedBull KTM, made 15 passes through the finish line, and even before the first of three pit stops, it was already clear that Miguel Oliveira was improving substantially, consistently hovering in the top 10. There were still 20 minutes left for FP2 to end and the Almadense, who used medium tires in this practice session and tested a new exhaust, was already in the second '59, roughly running at 325Km/h. Miguel Oliveira finished FP2, closing the 6th fastest time of the day (1.59.163s) and being – absolutely – the fastest rider in the first sector and the second fastest in sector four of the English track.

This Friday, Silverstone, on its circuit with six left and 12 right turns, offered spectators mild temperatures and a handful of competitiveness, with almost 17 riders racing in the same second.

Tomorrow, Saturday, the third and fourth free practice sessions of the weekend will take place, as well as the qualifying sessions. The race takes place on Sunday, August 7 at 1:00 pm.

With the summer break over, Miguel Oliveira is now heading to the British GP, at UK, more precisely to the Silverstone Circuit – a track with more than 60 years of history –, for the 12th round of the MotoGP world championship.

As one of the most prestigious spaces dedicated to motorsport, the Silverstone circuit is the longest in the championship, covering almost 6,000 meters of track, and also, for that very reason, one of the fastest and most exciting.

Integrating the 'top 10' of the general classification of the MotoGP championship, the MotoGP rider from Charneca de Caparica looks forward to returning to the track at the controls of his RC16, inside points and, ideally, on the podium, leaving behind the 16th place from 2021 and the DNF from 2019 (in 2020 this circuit was absent from the MotoGP calendar).

Between the 5th and the 7th of August, all attention will be focused on the eight left and 10 right turns of the Silverstone Circuit and everything will be discussed, on Sunday, in the 20 laps of the MotoGP race, in the approximately 120km distance of this British route.