Oliveira ‘curious to ride Aprilia’ at Le Mans, Fernandez has ‘margin to improve’

Miguel Oliveira has endured a tough start to life at Aprilia, despite receiving the 2024-spec RS-GP alongside factory riders Maverick Vinales and Aleix Espargaro.

The Trackhouse Racing rider showed his best form of the season last time out in Jerez, finishing eighth in both the grand prix and sprint. 

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“The Bugatti Circuit in Le Mans is a track on which I didn’t ride last year, so I’m very curious to ride the Aprilia bike there,” said Oliveira. 

“The weather forecast looks nice at the moment and I’m looking forward to enjoying the weekend.

“The goal is to improve as always and keep building towards a better result in front of the packed Grandstands that are always a feature at the French Grand Prix.”

Oliveira’s team-mate Raul Fernandez has flashed speed at different stages this season, however, the results have not backed up the Spaniard’s potential.

Fernandez has a best finish of tenth in a grand prix which came at COTA, before claiming P11 last time out in Jerez.

But Fernandez believes more pace could be shown in Le Mans after finding ‘margin to improve; during the Jerez test.

Fernandez said: “It will be very interesting to get to Le Mans. First of all because we had a very good test recently in Jerez where we worked a lot on the electronics and we saw an area where we have margin to improve.

“So, I’m happy to go and try to see if our idea with the electronics works out. Secondly, it will be great to do the French GP for the first time with Aprilia in MotoGP.

“Last year I had to miss this round with my injury, so I’m really looking forward to it – especially as I have very good memories with this circuit, which makes me curious to see what we will be able to do there.”