The Trackhouse Racing rider gained a position in the standings after a rough beginning. But he lost the opportunity to place in the top 10 because of an incident that happened before him, as he explained:

“I got caught up with Morbidelli’s crash, going super wide to avoid hitting him and his bike. I lost around five seconds that lap. Then I recovered going to a decent pace, but I just couldn’t get close enough to finish on the top ten.”


The Portuguese rider continued: “It’s a shame because I felt today, we could have a real top ten finish. I was there just behind Aleix Espargaró. Probably in the end, him with the soft tyre and me with the medium, I could have maybe attacked him. But it’s only an if. But we’ll build from here and go to Jerez.”


Maverick Viñales emerged victorious from the Aprilia factory team with a good performance. However, Oliveira doesn't seem any more confident as he says:

“I would say not because of Maverick, but just our own feeling, our own direction with the bike is going well. So, we just need to focus on that and build up from Jerez.”

Author

A passionate Irish journalist with a love for cycling, politics and of course Portugal especially their sausage rolls.

Rory Mc Ginn