Miguel Oliveira experienced a strange Saturday at the Circuit of The Americas. After completing the three Free Practice sessions as the fastest rider, the Red Bull KTM Ajo Portuguese rider was unable to repeat his best times in qualifying, and will start the Red Bull GP of The Americas from the fourth row.
Flags indicating rain were shown right from the start of FP3, but the rainfall was so mild and intermittent that Miguel Oliveira rode fast with slicks -albeit without improving his times from yesterday. Miguel Oliveira headed the timesheets for a spell. Finally, the rain sent all the riders back to the pits a few minutes before the 45 minute long session ended, with the Portuguese rider in fourth -2:11.298.
In qualifying, the rain made way for a completely cloudy sky, but that allowed the riders in the intermediate class to go out again with slicks. However, right from the start the Red Bull KTM Ajo Portuguese rider did not have the same feeling as before, and he was outside the Top5. Miguel Oliveira has not been able to repeat his best times from the weekend, settling for twelfth -2:11.321.
Miguel Oliveira #44
“Overall, it’s been a tough day. The track conditions for qualifying saw the grip level improve greatly. The temperature was lower, there was more rubber laid down and the track was cleaner, but in our case we found that difficult with new tyres and were unable to set a good lap time. In spite of that, we were only 3 tenths off third position. We have to try to improve the setup in the warmup ahead of the race. It will be a long race, so we will try to start well and make up positions”.
Despite starting from further back than expected, Miguel Oliveira will look to get his good feeling back on raceday and ride at the front. The race will start at 6:20pm, Portuguese local time.
Results (Qualifying session)
1. Alex Marquez (Kalex) 2:10.588
2. Sam Lowes (KTM) 2:10.744 +0.156
3. Mattia Pasini (Kalex) 2:10.993 +0.405
4. Francesco Bagnaia (Kalex) 2:11.009 +0.421
5. Joan Mir (Kalex) 2:11.124 +0.536
12. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 2:11.321 +0.733
