Miguel Oliveira had prospects of finishing on the podium at the Japanese MotoGP, but he was forced to retire. Despite a strong pace in the rain, the CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team rider had to abandon due to water infiltration into his helmet, which deprived him of the ability to see properly.
The Almada-born rider explained that when he was feeling strong he was forced to retire with visibility issues: ‘It was going well. Actually the flag-to-flag was smooth, no big issues. I changed the bike, started my wet race. I was feeling quite competitive and with more rain I felt even better: the bike was handling quite well. And then three laps before I retired, I started to struggle to see: I couldn’t see anything, I couldn’t even see where I was gonna put my wheels. It was so much water that I was already telling myself not to quit, to be calm. But I came half a lap distance and that was my race finished. The guys pulled in the bike into the garage, making complicated then to restart. Finally I could restart from the pitlane, but the race wasn’t already resume, so no chance’.
Regarding the visibility issues, Oliveira said: ‘I couldn’t see. It never happened to me. But I couldn’t see. On the straights, braking into the corners even staying out of the spray I could not see. It was really frustrating’.