On a day when he was 17th in both sessions, Miguel Oliveira entered the MotoGP Indian GP far from the front. The CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team rider had to adapt to the Buddh International Circuit, just like his opponents, as this race and track are absolute debuts.
The Portuguese rider explained to the press that FP1 in particular was tough, before the situation improved in practice: ‘The morning session was a bit difficult. I think we missed the apex in every corner. I was expecting the track to be a bit faster, to be honest. But I found it very narrow and a bit difficult to understand the braking markers. But overall, the afternoon was a bit more fun, the track was also better. It was fun to ride, it was just too hot. That’s it‘.
According to Oliveira, the first curve was a particularly challenging point: ‘The first curve is a bit difficult to do because it is very narrow at the exit, it is a 90º curve, so a 90º curve only has one trajectory anyway. But then you also have a left, but as the track continues a bit to the right and then you turn left. So, it’s not easy at all. And besides, it’s slightly downhill and then uphill. So, making that curve is a nightmare. Every time you go for a new lap, if you delay a bit looking at the screen or pressing any button, you’re done. You don’t make the curve’.
As for turns nine and ten, the pilot from Almada commented: ‘I tried some different things. It’s a complicated curve, very interesting. You don’t see the entrance, but somehow the apex is done very, very late after you lean. So, you just need to carry a lot of speed entering and then trust that the track will hold your bike and make it turn. So, it’s not that simple, but I got it right in the afternoon and it’s a very fun curve to do’.
Faced with Aleix Espargaró’s view that it is a curve particularly favorable to Aprilia, Oliveira commented: ‘I don’t know. That’s a fun sector. It’s where the fun begins. You have a very difficult final part of the track, the last curve and the first three curves. Then you have two long straights that break the rhythm. So, braking for turn four and exiting turn four. Then, you really start to have a bit more fun in the other parts. But it’s simply a track where the long straight kind of breaks the rhythm’.
