Miguel Oliveira finished tenth in the MotoGP Aragon GP practice, securing automatically a spot in the second qualifying. Despite ending up in the top ten in both sessions on Friday, his feelings about the MotorLand Aragón circuit were not entirely positive.
The Trackhouse Racing rider explained that he was somewhat confused at the end of the day: ‘It was not bad. It was actually confusing, because I felt really bad on the bike, but I was fast enough to go through, so it’s quite strange. But quickly enough after the practice we could identify some things that we can definitely improve looking also to Maverick [Viñales] and Aleix [Espargaró] that they were fast. At least, I’m happy to have a direction for tomorrow morning already so soon’.
When asked to explain the strange feeling and whether it was due to the bike or the track, Oliveira explained: ‘Because of the bike we kept some ideas that we used in Spielberg, but maybe because Spielberg is such an extreme track, you don’t spend so much time leaning, maybe we need to go back to our standard bike, let’s say. But that’s really it, we don’t have anything else to look at. Just small details’.
Maverick Viñales was impressed with Oliveira’s performance in the last sector, but the Portuguese downplayed it: ‘Nothing special, just doing the corner and accelerating, and I need to do what he is doing in Sector 1’.
Asked if MotorLand Aragón is a more favorable track for Aprilia, considering that all the RS-GP bikes were in the top ten on Friday, the #88 rider agreed: ‘I agree, because we have much more time cornering, and our bike is quite good, let’s say, when you are doing the corner mid/high speed. And also there is grip, so it’s always easier’.