Miguel Oliveira moved to RNF in MotoGP in 2023, which was Aprilia’s first satellite team in history. The team had a difficult year, with issues on and off the track, and this year was replaced by Trackhouse Racing – where the rider remained and finally received a bike identical to Aprilia’s factory team. However, the results are far from what was expected when he started his connection with the Italian manufacturer.
MOW Mag asked the Portuguese rider about what didn’t go well with the Noale manufacturer, to which #88 replied: ‘It’s not easy to pinpoint a reason, it’s hard to attribute everything to a single component. I joined Aprilia with high expectations because my goal was to do well and then move to the factory team. It was a delicate situation because for the first time, Aprilia found itself supplying bikes to a customer team, and as a structure, they weren’t ready for that initially. Then, I missed out a bit on the RS-GP 23, which I only tested at Misano in a few laps during Monday’s test last year. I had a good time, it was more complete’.
This year, with Trackhouse Racing, Oliveira moved from the 2022 RS-GP to the latest version, admitting that the change in the bike and tyre construction created difficulties: ‘The step up in the bike was very significant, also because in the meantime there was a change in the tyre carcass. Combining all these factors, the results haven’t been the best’.
For the #88, the goal was to be on equal terms with Aprilia’s factory riders, but he recognized that he never had that level of investment from the manufacturer: ‘My goal has always been to have the same material as the factory riders. Last year, when Aleix [Espargaró] and Maverick [Viñales] were struggling, I struggled even more because there weren’t many people in the team looking at me and telling me where we could improve. If you have a team dedicated to the two factory riders, who necessarily need to get results in the first part of the season, everything else gets scaled down in priorities. I was never Aprilia’s priority. That’s the point, but I understand’.