‘A sad finish to our home GP’, crash ‘not in our dreams’ - Oliveira

Miguel Oliveira suffered from an overheating Michelin front tyre during Sunday’s MotoGP race in Portimao, as he crashed out from the race he won six months ago. 

Following a crash in qualifying that left Oliveira starting from the fourth row, Sunday wasn’t much better for the home hero who crashed out very early on at turn 14.

"It was a sad finish to our home GP. Definitely not in our dreams, but we need to accept this ending and move forward," said the KTM rider. 

"It was tricky for us as we overheated the front tyre very quickly and we got more movement than expected, and I ended up crashing in Turn 14.” 

"I lost the rear brake and the bike on the right side was very damaged but I wanted to finish the race out of respect for my team, the mechanics who rebuilt the bike after the crash yesterday (Saturday), and the Portuguese fans. Heads up and looking forward for the next one."

KTM have not been helped by the different compound of Michelin tyre introduced this year, which Oliveira feels has ‘penalised’ the team of sorts. 

The 26 year-old said: "It is what we have to use because the dual compound at the moment is just not working. 

"We tried to adapt the bike set-up to use this tyre, but of course during the race the track temperature got up a lot and we also had many bikes in front, so it was getting really, really hot. 

"So yeah we were penalised in the options we had to go with, and the Medium front was definitely the best we had."

Following last season which was easily the Austrian manufacturer’s best in the premier class, the tyre issues have somewhat seen KTM fall back down the packing order.

Asked if he was worried, Oliveira added: "Well yes, about the asymmetric for sure, but we will try to use other options for sure during the GPs.

"One thing is sure is that these tyres have a range of temperature to work in that is very sensitive. 

"So we just need to predict this and try to adapt as possible our bike to the situation."