Miguel Oliveira finished the Catalunya MotoGP sprint race in sixth, losing the fifth place to Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac/Ducati) on the last lap. The portuguese rider from the CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team had to overcome a bad start and recover positions throughout the race, but spent many laps in fifth place before losing it.
The rider explained to the press that the wear on his front tyre compromised his final stage of the race: ‘The last five laps were very difficult. I just tried not to crash; I wore out my front tyre, the right side had a lot of grain and I couldn’t turn, I couldn’t brake, so it was a real shame. The rear was also very difficult to manage, but at least I was fast and managed to have a good pace. But in the end I also lost the top five to Martin. It was impossible’.
Before the race, Oliveira showed good pace in the second free practice session and in qualifying, having been aware from the outset that the soft tyre would have to be his option: ‘The morning was good. I had a small crash because we made a small adjustment to the engine brake and obviously it didn’t work and I crashed. Then, with the soft [tyre] used, I had a good pace, so I immediately thought that it could be a tyre for the Sprint. Still, I wasn’t convinced, but after everyone chose the soft, I said: «Well, I’ll go with the soft as well». But overall, it was a good day. Fast, always, only in the Sprint I had this problem with the front tyre that didn’t allow me to do more‘.