O driver born in Almada started his sixth season in the premier category of speed motorcycling with 15th place in the opening race, in Qatar, two weeks ago, and now returns to a stage he knows well and where he won in 2020, the year of pandemic.
“Before the Grand Prix [do Qatar] I predicted that fighting for the top 10 would be a good result in Qatar. I wasn’t wrong by much. Portimão is a circuit where we spend more time leaning and I think this could be beneficial for us, as the bike is at the moment and with some changes we have in mind to make. I don’t know what the good result will be, but I would like, after the weekend starts, to be able to have this more concrete objective”, said Oliveira, speaking to Lusa, last week.
Last year, it was at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve (AIA), in Portimão, where, in 2023, he suffered his first injury of the year, after being hit at the start of the race by Spaniard Marc Márquez.
Despite being one of the routes he knows best and adapts well to, AIA is also one of the unluckiest for the Portuguese driver.
After the victory achieved in 2020, starting from pole position, leading every lap and achieving the fastest lap, he only achieved notable results again in 2022, the year in which he finished in fifth position, being KTM’s best.
The 29-year-old rider has already competed in 85 MotoGP races, counting five triumphs (Styria, Algarve, Catalonia, Indonesia and Thailand), seven podiums and a ‘pole position’, precisely in the year of his first victory in Portimão.
In 2021, the AIA hosted two championship events, the Portuguese Grand Prix and the Algarve Grand Prix. Oliveira was unlucky, falling to both.
Now, the Portuguese rider arrives at the home race with new colors and a current bike.
The North American team Trackhouse replaced the Malaysian RNF, prevented from competing by Dorna, the company promoting the championship.
Having a contract directly with Aprilia, Miguel Oliveira has access, this year, to a 2024 RSGP, unlike last year, when he raced with a 2022 model.
Miguel Oliveira is actually one of the three drivers who have already managed to win in the AIA. In addition to the Portuguese, only the Frenchman Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha) and the Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati), defending champion, have won on the Algarve circuit.
The MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix, which will be held between Friday and Sunday, will be the second of 21 World Championship races.
For the first time, the Algarve competition program will include a MotoE World Championship race, for electric motorcycles.
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