Miguel Oliveira’s 22nd-place finish in the timed practice session showed that he faced significant difficulties on Friday at the MotoGP San Marino GP. The CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team rider was unable to match the pace of the other Aprilia riders and has a lot of work ahead to improve for tomorrow.
Facing the press, the Portuguese rider explained his feelings with the bike: ‘Not good. I had difficulties to find the rhythm, find a good speed. It was a really strange feeling, I had a lot of vibration on the bike, really not normal. For sure something was out of ordinary, not just setting-wise, but for sure something related to something else. It’s good that we have two bikes which are faster than us and in the top 10. Aleix was not in the top 10, but we was quite fast. So, we need to understand where we can improve for tomorrow and what we can do with the bike’.
Asked about whether the vibration issues were also felt during the morning free practice session, Oliveira replied: ‘In FP1 I had a little bit, but not too bad. Then, in the afternoon with the two soft tyres, was just horrible to ride. I couldn’t do any corner speed, I couldn’t go into the corner in a smooth way. The bike was just vibrating and not pitching. So, it was a really strange feeling’.