Miguel Oliveira finished 15th in the Dutch GP of MotoGP on the last lap, after Pedro Acosta (Red Bull GasGas Tech3/KTM) crashed. The Trackhouse Racing rider couldn’t compete for the top ten, stabilizing in 14th until he was penalized with a Long Lap for repeatedly exceeding track limits. When he served the penalty, he made a mistake in the trajectory and had to repeat it, dropping from 14th to 16th.
Unable to speak to the journalists due to anti-doping and travel commitments, the Portuguese rider said in an audio note sent to the press: ‘It was a decent first half of the race, I could be doing competitive lap times. I didn’t get a good start as I got yesterday, especially in the first lap’.
Regarding the penalty, Oliveira explained that he only saw the track limits warning too late and detailed what happened when he took the Long Lap:
– I didn’t see the track limits warning on my dashboard, and when I realized I just had to do a Long Lap. When attempted to do it to lose the least time possible, I went wide and I went on the gravel. I lost a lot of time and I had to repeat it. So the race was pretty much finished. On to the next one.