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First it went forward, then it sank backwards: Miguel Oliveira finishes the Malaysian Grand Prix in 13th place

James
James
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First, a strange day. So a day to forget. At one point, during the second free practice session, Miguel Oliveira seemed to be able to discuss more seriously the passage to Q2, but the times achieved on the wet track were insufficient to improve the 17th position he had achieved at the start (where his teammate team Brad Binder was the fastest). Then, this Saturday, the Portuguese KTM did not confirm expectations of improvement and the end of Q1 ended up leaving the 88 only in 18th place on the starting grid, very, very far from Jorge Martín.

Portuguese driver Miguel Oliveira had “a day to forget” in Sepang

“It has been a strange day, we opted for the strategy of not putting tires at the end of the session in the first free sessions, we did not expect this afternoon rain either. It was a bit unexpected in that sense but there are things that we cannot control and then we adapt. Without much madness, we ended up touching the bike a little, on wet floor I felt a little better, morning [sábado] it is to continue with the work that we had scheduled for this afternoon”, Miguel Oliveira had said this Friday.

“In qualifying I had an unexpected vibration in the front tire and I didn’t have time to change it and I didn’t have the option to go out with the other bike because it had a different set-up. Anyway, it was a day to forget. The race will be very difficult for me and for everyone. It’s a race here, it’s very long, it’s very physical and I think, in this part, I can make a little more difference and recover positions. So obviously we go with all the motivation for tomorrow. [domingo]. Strategy? The strategy is to start well, have a good first lap, which is fundamental in this circuit, and pick up a fast pace”, the Portuguese highlighted this Saturday, after a timed path that left him at the end of the sixth row of the grid. .

“Now I hope it rains, yes. This year I was better everywhere in the rain than in the dry. I can’t say what is causing this. This year I was only competitive in all the wet sessions, but I wasn’t always the fastest in the wet. I think I can quickly adapt to a wet track, then I quickly understand where the limits are. But if it rains here on Sunday, I can’t say 100% that I will be fast. People have to understand that driving in the rain is not a piece of cake. It’s not an easy job,” he added later about the possibility of Sepang getting rain again.

It didn’t rain but, like the two candidates for the title who were able to resolve the matter this Sunday (in the case of Pecco Bagnaia), Miguel Oliveira had a cannon start that allowed him to gain two places at the start and three more in the two minutes of the initial lap, what placed the Portuguese in 13th place. In front, and in the battle that concentrated all the attention, Pecco Bagnaia climbed from inside ninth to second, while Fabio Quartararo moved from 12th to sixth before jumping a new position.

Jorge Martín was giving a real recital in the lead, similar to what had happened in free practice and qualifying, easily gaining more than a second on Bagnaia, but everything changed completely with 15 laps to go when the Spaniard shot out of a curve and the almost inevitable opportunity to win in Sepang was wasted, leaving the podium places to Bagnaia, Enea Bastianiani and Fabio Quartararo, practically nullifying the possibility of the title. Miguel Oliveira continued climbing places, reaching the ninth after passing Darryn Binder and Franco Morbidelli.

Until then, Miguel Oliveira was a “forward”; from there, he began to walk “backwards”. Thus, and when he was running ninth but three seconds behind Brad Binder, the Portuguese descended consecutively to 12th, surpassed by Jack Miller, Johann Zarco and Aleix Espargaró. And I wouldn’t be in that position, with all the troubles i was feeling getting thicker and allowing more overtaking by Morbidelli and Maverick Viñales. However, it was one of the first where the real fight took place, with three Ducati immediately trying to settle the title question in favor of Pecco Bagnaia against Fabio Quartararo.

On a theoretical level, and as the scenario was, the Frenchman who was still world champion in title was in great trouble. Because Enea Bastianini did not pass Bagnaia at the head of the race, because Marco Bezzecchi was getting closer and closer to Quartararo. However, the Yamaha rider gave the best possible answer: even with Bastianini moving forward to pick up the pace from the Ducati factory leader, the Frenchman began to set faster times, pulling away from Bezzechi having lapped less than half a second, assured. he was third and even approached the first two from the front, who meanwhile already had Bagnaia ahead of them again. The title will be decided in Valencia.

Miguel Oliveira finished in 13th place, having gotten one more pass before going back down for Cal Crutchlow. However, despite all the difficulties, the Portuguese still managed to climb a point in the World Cup thanks to the fall of Jorge Martín, now being ninth with 138 points, two more than the Spanish. In Valencia, the Portuguese will start with a 16-point lead over Maaverick Viñales, currently 11th, which opens up good prospects for finishing 2022 in the top 10. Bagnaia, for his part, is only two points away from winning his first MotoGP title, with Enea Bastianini still dreaming of third position due to having a shortened distance of ten points with Aleix Espargaró.

Source: Observadora

James
James

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