In the KTM years, Miguel Oliveira gained a reputation for being especially strong in wet races, with his last two victories coming in those conditions. However, this season with Aprilia and the CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team, he has not been able to replicate those kinds of results in wet sessions and races.
Confronted with statistics showing that he is currently the rider who has scored the most points in wet races and asked about the reasons that led him to not be as competitive in those conditions recently, #88 stated:
– I think when you look to the statistics, you need to analyse deeply why I won the races. And I only won them because I made a very good first half of the race – that’s where I won the races. Then, by being first I managed the situation better because the tyres and pressures are more under control, I’ve understood the limits already and I can manage the gap. And visibility-wise it’s much better to be in front than to chase in the back. Also as the races go onwards, it gets a little more difficult to manage the stress because who is fighting for first position don’t want to risk – it’s easy to crash. I think that’s why the success of the score points.
Having said that, Oliveira pointed out: ‘We need more time on the wet to understand if that’s true or not. But I guess the first moment of risking and not crashing had paid off for me in the past’.