‘Nice boost’ as Oliveria puts Tech 3 KTM into Q2 contention

Whilst KTM bosses might have been looking at Pol Espargaro and Johann Zarco to put the manufacturer into position to reach Q2 at its home Austrian MotoGP, it was Miguel Oliveira that instead surprisingly emerged as its most likely candidate.

The Portuguese rider, on the back of arguably his best MotoGP weekend yet in Brno, found his form on the soft tyre in the closing stages to post the sixth fastest time in FP2, placing him seventh on the overall timesheets.

there are still gains to be made in a dry FP3, with the forecast for Saturday suggesting rain may be a factor, Oliveira could be looking at getting a Tech 3 machine into Q2 for the first time since the French outfit swapped Yamaha for KTM machinery over the winter.

"Overall, it has been a quite positive day. We managed to do a really good FP2 with a strong pace and finally on the last run with a very fast lap to get us inside the provisional Q2, which is a first time for us on a Friday.

“We still have tomorrow to improve, which I hope we do. Getting this nice result for the team, I think is a huge boost for everyone."