An inability to adapt to the soft tire fitted to the Aprilia’s rear wheel led to Miguel Oliveira’s crash this Friday during scheduled practice for the Spanish MotoGP Grand Prix in Jerez de la Frontera.
The Portuguese rider finished the session in 19th place, 1.317 seconds behind the fastest, Italy’s Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), in a session in which he suffered his first crash of the season.
“Today was not an easy day. As soon as we installed the soft tire at the rear, I felt that the balance of the bike was strange, especially when braking,” the Almada rider began to explain.
Oliveira added that “the back was pushing the front” and that was what caused the fall.
“There’s no problem with that, but it was a disappointing day, especially because we didn’t have any rhythm,” he stressed.
Miguel Oliveira also explained that “he didn’t have enough top speed to even think about being in the top ten.”
“The lap times are already quite competitive and we weren’t fast enough. On the plus side, the team can analyze important Maverick data. [Viñales] and Alex [Espargaró] and we hope to take a step forward tomorrow (Saturday),” concluded the Portuguese rider.
The Spanish MotoGP Grand Prix is the fourth round of the season.
Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati) arrives at this race as the championship leader with 80 points, while the Portuguese rider is in 14th place with 13.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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