Miguel Oliveira finished tenth in the Catalan GP of MotoGP, but it was far from an easy round. The Trackhouse Racing rider faced some difficulties in Barcelona but still feels that he made positive progress since Friday – despite encountering setbacks and an underwhelming performance in the main race.
The #88 explained that there were improvements throughout the weekend, but not to the extent he had hoped: ‘We tried really hard to get a good performance. We actually achieved a good performance on qualifying, we had a good speed. And we were competitive with the soft rear tyre. It’s just a shame for Saturday being a little bit of with the front pressure and with the crash of course. But rather than that, I feel it was a weekend where we actually could improve. It’s just that on Sunday I was expecting much more from the bike and didn’t happen’.
Some riders who started further back, like Marc Márquez (Gresini/Ducati), opted for the soft rear tyre. Oliveira didn’t, and he explained his reasons:
– The problem was the heat. We know the consumption problem was not going to be much different on the right side, but because of the fact that the temperature was so hot in the track, we were a bit scared to actually go with the soft. So we didn’t considered it to be honest.