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“You feel something in your stomach,” says the Portuguese rider.
The Portuguese rider Miguel Oliveira (KTM) considered this Friday “a fantastic feeling” to race at home “even without an audience”, after the first day of free practice for the MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix, which will be held until Sunday in the Algarve.
Speaking to journalists through the Zoom platform, Oliveira stressed that “it is this feeling that reigns over the motorcycle.”
“It’s a fantastic feeling. Even without an audience, every time I go out on the track I feel motivated to do well. That is the feeling that reigns on the bike. Even without an audience, there is always a feeling of support,” said the Portuguese rider. .
The rider, who had been the fastest in the morning session, improved by almost 200 milliseconds in the afternoon session, making his best lap in 1.39.946 minutes, 529 milliseconds of the day, Frenchman Johann Zarco (Ducati) .
“It was a good day. I enjoyed all the laps. It was a good experience to discover Portimão in MotoGP for the first time,” he acknowledged.
The Almada rider considered that one of the most critical points on the track at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve is braking “for the first corner”.
“We brake and suddenly we have no support. We feel something in our stomach, which is good. The last corner is good to do, with this power. I suspect, but it is one of the funniest tracks on the calendar,” he commented. the Tech3 driver, who admitted that he already had “an idea” of the way forward for the rest of the weekend, especially since the track, on Saturday, “will improve”.
The Portuguese rider also explained that the drivers need, on this track, “to have a stable front end”.
“We need a stable bike in general. To brake, a bike that is under our control is important, but that allows us to move during braking. In terms of power it doesn’t make much difference, because even on the longest straight we only travel a little. throttle, “added the Tech3 driver.
Despite having some knowledge of the Algarve layout, today was the first time that Miguel Oliveira rode a MotoGP bike.
“The track gets narrower with MotoGP, difficult because it has a lot of power and we are far from the correct setup in terms of power delivery and traction control. Overall, it’s quite fun, one of the funnest on the calendar. But already I knew the advantage of knowing that the track would take little time ”, he concluded.
Two more free practice sessions are scheduled for Saturday and the classification will be divided into two parts.
The first (Q1), which brings together the 10 slowest drivers in the third free practice session, and the second, with the 10 remaining drivers plus the two fastest in Q1.
After 13 races, Miguel Oliveira occupies the tenth position of the championship, with 100 points.
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