After the Malaysian MotoGP Grand Prix, Raúl Fernández argued that there should be more support from Aprilia for the CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team. Miguel Oliveira agrees with his teammate, but is also aware that it will not be easy and the recent difficulties are not only due to the support issue.
The rider from Almada explained that the manufacturer from Noale is at the limit of its capabilities: ‘It should be more, but I think they are at the limit of what they can really do to help. There’s not much to do. We are using a specification from a year ago. Just bringing even more spare parts for that specification is a waste, it’s not really useful. Definitely the best path to follow is to have a complete alignment with the same bike. I think that is the best option, also the most costly. But we have to understand why we are here and what goals we want to achieve’.
Questioned about whether the evolution throughout the season accentuates the difference between current and previous bikes, Oliveira replied: ‘Not only that, but if you look at the end of last year, the factory riders were already struggling with this specification, so it’s also a bit normal that we are struggling. The end of the year is not good’.
In the opinion of the Portuguese rider, there are also consequences for being away from Europe at this stage of the season: ‘I think what harms us the most is being outside of Europe, in our specific case. And outside of Europe, you don’t have the same amount of people working. We are also not physically close to the factory so that we can send things and have things reviewed, something that could perhaps be looked at more deeply. And having that extra help’.
