It took a while, but the right direction seems to have been found by Miguel Oliveira and Trackhouse Racing in the Qatar tests, with the Portuguese speaking about the difficulties initially felt, which seem to have been partially overcome. His performance improved considerably from one day to the next, and it could still get even better.
In the analysis of what could be the first round of the MotoGP world championship, Oliveira explained that he was not the only one, in individual terms, to improve, and that he feels he has “something more”: ‘Not just me but the team finally managed to take a good step forward on the last day of testing. We had difficulties with the sensations with the bike in the beginning, in Sepang and here, and finally the team found a way to help me and we immediately saw the difference, I was 2 and something faster than the day before and finished with the feeling that I had a bit more speed than I showed, and I hope we can continue this path here during the race weekend’.
The Portuguese then explained some of the difficulties: ‘Basically they built the bike with a focus on having more downforce in all parts, and of course you have to adapt especially the height and how the front suspensions will work with that, and I was having a lot of difficulties in the fast corners to have that feedback, to have the bike truly stable to enter the corners and I lost a lot of time there’.
Oliveira feels confident, as apparently the first major obstacle has been overcome, and the way forward has been found, he believes: ‘During the test we finally managed to understand which direction to follow in terms of settings to help me and be fast. It was simply that’.
