Miguel Oliveira and the entire MotoGP grid will be racing for the first time at the brand new Dankaur circuit in India. After much speculation about the safety of the circuit and whether it should even be on the calendar, it was confirmed by Dorna and the FIM – who certified the circuit with all the requirements to hold the race – that we would have the first Indian GP.
So, when asked about his opinion of the circuit and whether he could think of any others, Oliveira said he found it interesting and felt that from what he could tell from riding on the track, everything seemed safe:
– Interesting layout. It has a long straight, but the rest of it looks like a lot of fun to do. It looks safe for us from the outside. It’s promising, we’ll see tomorrow. (…) They’ve tried to put in a bit of everything from each circuit. It looks very interesting, these kind of corners they have, like a stadium, I don’t know if it’s turn 8 or 9. This right hander, it looks very good. But looking at the design, it doesn’t remind you of a specific type of track, it’s a mixture of everything.
With regard to learning the layout and the speeds that the MotoGP bikes can reach on the huge straight of the Dankaur circuit, the #88 said that it’s crucial to get a good flow and understand the braking points, especially on such a long straight followed by a very slow corner:
– I have no idea (of the top speed). It’s a very slow corner at the start of the straight. There’s a bit of a climb before you get to the braking point, so I can’t say. I don’t expect anything crazy. Even in Austin we don’t do extraordinary speeds and it’s one of the longest straights (on the calendar). This one is longer, but I really don’t know what speeds we can do, not least because we’re going to have to brake for a very slow corner, so I don’t know how it’s going to work. (…) In my opinion it’s trying to understand the fluidity of the circuit first and some braking points. Because after a straight, you have to be aware of where to brake more or less. Because we already knew more or less when we came to the circuit whether it was going to be a left or right-hand circuit, so we already knew more or less what to expect.