Going slower… hell no! This is the advice that Miguel Oliveira guarantees he is not given given by Giovanni Mattarollo – his crew chief – even though the approach must be adjusted between the Sprint race and the long race on Sunday.
After racing on Saturday in the Sprint, the riders have to adapt to a longer and therefore «slower» race, with some of the crew chiefs, according to Manuel Pecino, advising their riders to be more cautious in the way they approach the race, something that is not unfamiliar to Miguel Oliveira, who replied: ‘No, because we already had that feeling with the previous format. We know that Sunday races are always slower, with less grip on the track after the Moto2 race, and we’ll see now if, with the Pirelli tyres, that will change or not. […] We have a lot more things to manage and certainly the race lap times are slower’.
In the Portuguese rider’s opinion, however, this way of communicating or interacting is certainly not the way he is told: ‘I don’t think the approach of the crew chief should be that [we] go slower, but we have to be cautious, have everything under control, but go as fast as we can. I don’t know which crew chief told you, but mine certainly doesn’t tell me to go slower [laughs]’.
This will be the second year of the #88 with Aprilia’s satellite team, now Trackhouse Racing.