Miguel Oliveira returned to top ten results with a tenth place finish 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 standings, almost always due to crashes or penalties ahead 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 positives today. The grip was very poor from the start. 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 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 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‘.
