Miguel Oliveira is still looking for improvements in qualifying in 2024, and although he’s been close to Q2 a couple of times, qualifying has been one of the Portuguese rider’s Achilles heels, and it’s precisely this aspect that Wilco Zeelenberg wants to see improved in the #88’s performance, as he guarantees that the speed on track is more than evident.
The Trackhouse Racing Team Manager began by looking ahead to the next round of the MotoGP World Championship, which returns to European tracks: ‘Round four is coming up and it’s always nice to come back to Europe after overseas races. Everything is a bit more under control, you know the plans and you know where all the materials are located with the trucks. […] Both our riders are very fit and motivated to do well. […] Miguel learned a lot in Austin with his bike and gained an improved feeling and got better control’.
He then explained what still needs to be improved on the rider’s part, without forgetting that he, however has speed and what it takes:
– We still need to qualify better in order to perform better in the races. Starting further towards the front will help us achieving more points. The speed is there, which is very important and to turn that into a good position in the races, we have to qualify a bit better. Everything looks like we are able to do that in the coming races, which is positive, so I can’t wait; let’s start in a great environment like Jerez.
So far this season, Oliveira’s best qualifying result has been 14th and starting from the fifth row of the grid, which has already happened twice, in Losail and Texas, and curiously in Portimão, where he was least successful, finishing 15th.