In the Algarve, it’s time to accelerate to the top-10: Miguel Oliveira finished 9th in the Portuguese Grand Prix

Vivalma was capable of taking a jab and bursting Miguel Oliveira’s concentration bubble. Immobile on his face, inert like a statue, the Portuguese man had his cap on and his sunglasses blocking his view, he was sitting on the motorbike and his father was next to him and a woman was holding a hat to protect him from the sun’s rays. who dodged through the cloudy sky, in that inversion of chivalry practiced to give shade to each driver on the starting grid. After the world turned upside down, celebrities walked around the dance floor and Áurea sang the national anthem, Miguel Oliveira was able to express his concentration.

The race in the Algarve started with all riders having the same choice of tires on the front and back of the bikes and the Portuguese made good use of his Aprilia, darting between machines at the start. He climbed four places, from 15th to 11th position and held the position on the first lap in which the Italian Franco Morbidelli had a mishap and the Spaniard Álex Márquez slid off the tarmac. The Portuguese Grand Prix started off unevenly and was led by the Spaniards who proliferate in MotoGP, with Jorge Martín and Maverick Viñales at the front, nothing new in the fight for glory.

In the ups and downs of the racetrack’s hills, Miguel Oliveira sneaked into 10th place with less than 20 track sections to complete, accelerating to his best time on the next lap. The Portuguese appeared to be poised for something big, a performance more in line with expectations and how much he cares about himself. “I believe that on Sunday I will be able to find the way to fight for the top-10 and, in fact, it will not be a bad result”, he had said, the day before, apparently with good reason because he was biting at Fabio Quatararo’s rubber heels, the Italian in front of him.

Halfway through the race, Jorge Martín maintained his lead without any problems, the enthusiasm of the race was generated a little further back. In pursuit of the podium, Francesco Bagnaia shared a fierce fight with Pedro Acosta, the Italian two-time world champion and the Spaniard taking turns in 4th place. The information that this would be the biggest peak they could climb was certainly coming into the ears of both of them, given that the gap to Enea Bastianini’s third place was around two seconds at the start of the last third of the race. That was their race, it had to be.

Miguel Oliveira kept him on the mission that took him more than 10 laps to complete, with just seven to go he found a way to get around Fabio Quartararo, before the Grand Prix the driver from Almada also said that he knows he has “the skills to be fast ” and that “it’s frustrating” not being able to be, another peck given to the Aprilia he rides. In the days before the race, the bike had this or that, it failed in this detail and in others, Miguel pointed out failures. With four laps to go, something happened to him or her when he was overtaken by Quartararo and Aleix Espargaró, falling to 12th position.

Later on, in the fierce fight for the remaining points on the podium, Pedro Acosta found a way to dodge ‘Peco’ Bagnaia, who would soon be overtaken by the most titled and unlucky in MotoGP. With his eight world titles, Marc Márquez, the one plagued by injuries in the last few years, would suffer his fourth fall this weekend when the Italian, upon seeing himself overtaken by him, touched the back of his bike, dragging them both into the gravel. The Spaniard ended up fussing and shouting. And on the last lap, Maverick Viñales’ machine did something to the Spaniard, who also disappeared from the track.

While these adventures and misfortunes took place at the front, Jorge Martín, Enea Bastianini and Pedro Acosta, in that order, were the first to see the chess flag waved by José Mourinho on the finish line, Miguel Oliveira channeled his best skills to get revenge of who had overtaken him: the Portuguese would finish the race in 9th place, therefore, “actually, it won’t be a bad result” as he predicted on Saturday. After 15th place in Qatar, the Portuguese finished the second race of the season in the points.

When you parked your Aprilia boxes, he approached the track, stood on the wall that flanked it and waved to the noisy audience who cheered at his greeting. Then, she looked this way and that, cautiously before crossing the road and walked towards the stands to present the fans with her gloves. Returning affection with affection, this is how Miguel Oliveira ended, affectionate in the outcome of the best result of the season and much better than the abandonment he was forced into last year, when Marc Márquez ran him off the track, an accident that left injuries to the Portuguese’s body .

Taming a bike being polished by a beardless team, Trackhouse Racing, which didn’t even expect to be in MotoGP this year, the Almada rider recorded an encouraging result at home. At 29 years old, this season may not be the most joyful in terms of results, but, in Portimão, he achieved a performance that, at least, will serve as encouragement for the many races that remain on the calendar.