Miguel Oliveira addresses the Qatar MotoGP Grand Prix after two retirements. Despite the less favorable phase of the season, the CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team rider believes he can be competitive in Losail, although he maintains moderate expectations.
The Portuguese rider told the press on Thursday: ‘It will be an interesting weekend with tire choices and also perhaps temperatures slightly different from afternoon to night. We will see that tomorrow and understand what could be the best tire compromise to use and especially see the track, because it changes a lot with many things around it. But the layout is the same, so it shouldn’t be that difficult‘.
In 2022, Aleix Espargaró fought for the podium in Qatar, but Oliveira is cautious about that reference: ‘Aleix last year… it was also the first race, so I don’t know how much we can take that into account. Now we are here at the end of the season, obviously with much more work done, and I think everyone is a little more prepared with the setup than at the beginning of the season. So, if you’re good, maybe you can stand out more‘. Despite keeping his feet on the ground, #88 showed optimism about the possibility of being competitive in this penultimate round of the year: ‘That being said, I don’t want our expectations to be too high, but it’s one of the tracks where we spend a lot of time braking at an angle, turning, needing power, but only on the straight. We saw the Yamahas being super competitive here in the past. So, I think we can also be competitive without having the strongest engine. We have a good chance to feel that tomorrow‘.
