Miguel Oliveira finished the MotoGP Australian GP in 13th place. In a main race that was moved to Saturday and was not easy at all, the man from CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team climbed positions as much as he could throughout the race, until he reached 13th on the last lap.
In the first corners, the Portuguese managed to reach 18th place, then dropping to 19th. It was in this position that the rider settled in the early laps, opening a gap of around one second to Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha) behind. Ahead, close by, was the other rider from the Yamaha team: Franco Morbidelli.
It was during the fifth lap that Oliveira moved ahead of the Italian, reaching 18th place. Now he had Augusto Fernández (GasGas Tech3/KTM) in front, less than a second away. This was Oliveira’s best phase so far, managing to keep up with the Spanish rival and even getting closer.
On lap 11, a crash by Joan Mir (Repsol Honda) promoted Oliveira to 17th. Meanwhile, Augusto Fernández overtook Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team/Ducati), leaving Oliveira with a new rival to chase. The gap started to grow and with 16 laps to go, it was around one second. Behind was Quartararo, who had passed Morbidelli.
Another crash, this time by Fernández, on the 13th lap made the rider from Almada move up to 16th. The points were now just ahead, but Marini was about a second away, a difficult distance to close.
The truth is that Oliveira managed to close in after Marini managed to overtake the opponents immediately ahead. With 11 laps to go, the “Falcão” quickly passed Pol Espargaró (GasGas Tech3/KTM) and Raúl Fernández (CryptoDATA RNF MotoGP Team/Aprilia) to move up to 14th… once again behind Marini.
The Italian continued to climb positions, leaving Enea Bastianini (Ducati) as the rider immediately ahead of Oliveira. However, the gap started to grow. Quartararo would fall back on lap 21 of the scheduled 27. On the final lap, the Portuguese rider managed to overtake Marc Márquez (Repsol Honda) to finish in 13th.
Hard tire in front and medium tire in the back
Lap 1: 19th
Lap 2: 19th
Lap 3: 19th
Lap 4: 19th
Lap 5: 19th -> 18th
Lap 6: 18th
Lap 7: 18th
Lap 8: 18th
Lap 9: 18th
Lap 10: 18th
Lap 11: 17th -> 17th
Lap 12: 17th
Lap 13: 17th -> 16th
Lap 14: 16th
Lap 15: 16th
Lap 16: 16th
Lap 17: 16th -> 14th
Lap 18: 14th
Lap 19: 14th
Lap 20: 14th
Lap 21: 14th
Lap 22: 14th
Lap 23: 14th
Lap 24: 14th
Lap 25: 14th
Lap 26: 14th
Lap 27: 14th -> 13th (end of race)
