After the usual mid-season break, rider Miguel Oliveira ended a very positive weekend today, showing clear improvements since Friday, reaching 4th place in FP1. The hard work of the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team is now beginning to pay off with the Czech Grand Prix ending with a very successful race by the Almada rider who finished the race in 13th position.
The Portuguese rookie kicked off the day with a positive Warm-Up session, finishing in 15th position just 0.579 seconds from session leader Andrea Dovizioso, giving early signs of a promising race.
The Portuguese rider started the race with a good start and quickly began to regain positions, making clean and beautiful overtakings over riders such as Johann Zarco and Aleix Espargaro. Miguel Oliveira also escaped early in the race from being involved in a crash that took place between Joan Mir and Morbidelli, then rode much of it in 13th place. The good pace of the Portuguese allowed him to increase consecutively the distance to the back riders, becoming even the fastest KTM on track for a few moments of the race.
“Today we had a hard-fought race with some difficulty maintaining the performance of the lap times with the rear tire grip decreasing. Still, with just one day of work on Friday on dry conditions, the team did a great job of having a competitive bike for the race. We finished just 4 seconds from the best KTM, which is very positive. Starting from behind was what limited me the most in regaining positions, but I made a good first lap, kept my pace and managed to bring the bike to the end with some difficulty, to reach a few more points that is the goal. We leave with great confidence for the next Grand Prix in Austria.” Miguel Oliveira
The MotoGP championship returns with the eleventh round in Austria next weekend on 9, 10 and 11 August.
Race Rank:
1. M. Marquez (Honda)
2. A. Dovizioso (Ducati)
3. J. Miller (Ducati)
13. M. Oliveira (KTM)
