Miguel Oliveira returned to the top ten results with a tenth place in the MotoGP Catalan Grand Prix – bouncing back from yesterday’s retirement in the Sprint race.
Throughout Sunday’s race, where he started from 15th, he progressed very slowly in the classification, mostly due to crashes or penalties in front of him. In fact, he crossed the finish line in 11th, but was promoted to tenth with a 32-second penalty imposed on Enea Bastianini (Ducati) ahead of him.
The Trackhouse Racing rider told the press that, despite the result, he was dissatisfied with his performance: ‘It was a bad race, to be honest. I couldn’t find any positive aspects today. The grip was very poor from the beginning. I tried to manage as best I could, but I was still sliding, trying to manage the tire. I didn’t have speed; the pace was reasonable, but it just wasn’t enough to fight for something better. Finishing in tenth is okay, but I’m really disappointed with today’s performance, it’s not ideal‘.
After yesterday’s tire problems, Oliveira was now hindered by the lack of rear grip, as he mentioned: ‘Yesterday we had a small problem with the front tire that actually didn’t help me avoid the crash, and today low grip at the rear in general, so it was very difficult to move forward. It’s a shame. I didn’t have vibrations, just very poor grip from the start‘.
