Red Bull KTM Ajo rider Miguel Oliveira repeated his Moto2 epic victory from the Australian GP at the penultimate round of the season in Sepang, Malaysia. Amidst intense heat and with the complication of fine rainfall on the final laps, the 22-year-old Portuguese rider held on for another remarkable result.
Miguel Oliveira’s race followed the same script as a week ago at Phillip Island. A great start allowed him to take the holeshot, and within two laps he had already established a lead of 1 second from the pursuing group. Oliveira gave his rivals no chance of catching him, setting new circuit records and upping his advantage to as much as almost 5 seconds. The Portuguese has managed to remain calm when the rain began, 4 laps from the end, and crossed the finish line with over a 2 second lead
#44 Miguel Oliveira
“Today I had to give everything, I can hardly speak. This was not the strategy I had in mind before we started, as Franco [Morbidelli] and Brad [Binder] had a very good pace, so my plan was to ride behind them. But I saw that I could give a little more on the first few laps and I went for it. I gave everything I had and I am very proud to have succeeded. At the beginning of the season I did not imagine that we would be able to achieve these results. I thought we would be competitive but not that we would do so well. We deserve this end to the season”.
With this excellent end to the flyaway rounds, Miguel Oliveira has secured third position in the overall standings, with 216 points.
The final race of the year will be take place on November 12th in Valencia.
Results (Race)
1. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 40:28.955
2. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +2.387
3. Franco Morbidelli (Kalex) +6.878
4. Mattia Pasini (Kalex) +21.774
5. Francesco Bagnaia (Kalex) +22.086
Moto2 World Championship Standing 2017
1. Franco Morbidelli (Kalex) 288 points
2. Thomas Luthi (Kalex) 243 points
3. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 216 points
4. Alex Marquez (Kalex) 190 points
5. Francesco Bagnaia (Kalex) 161 points
9. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 109 points
