Since the Italian Grand Prix, Miguel Oliveira has been the object of all attention. And for good reason, from Mugello to the Sachsenring, the KTM official took a second place, a victory and another second position. That is 65 points in three races and therefore at least 14 more than world championship leader Fabio Quartararo. The latter stopped the bleeding at Assen just before the summer break by collecting his fourth achievement of the season while the Portuguese was content with a top 5. Here he is 71 points behind. Crippling? Or even…
Miguel Oliveira will perhaps regret his very poor start to the 2021 MotoGP season for a long time. We must in fact remember that before the improvement of the Italian Grand Prix, which celebrated a new framework for a KTM force-fed with a new gasoline, the Portuguese had only collected nine points at the World Championships in five races contested and was only 20th in the general classification… Before Assen, he had returned to 57 points from the French to Yamaha , before dropping a few precious units in the Netherlands. A situation which amuses the official in RC16: “ before this race everyone said I was close, now I'm far “, replied the winner of Montmeló with a laugh. “ And now ? ».
Now let's look at the statistics. Eleven races before the end of the 2020 season, Joan mir was 48 points behind a certain Fabio Quartararo. Ultimately, Mir became world champion and Quartararo was 44 points behind. These eleven Grands Prix were 92 points apart. In 2017, Marc Marquez made up 53 points on Maverick Vinales.
There are therefore examples of successful comebacks in MotoGP. But Olive tree keeps a cool head : " This doesn't change anything in my approach. he says. " I have nothing to do but make the most of every weekend. There will still be days like in Assen, but it is important that we stay calm and make the most of them, even in adverse circumstances ».
« For me it is also important to learn how we can improve the bike and how I can improve for the future » adds the teammate Brad Binder. " We also need to think about what we can do for the present and the future. We will see the days as a learning curve, sometimes we will win and sometimes we will take fifth place ", explain Olive tree. " When it comes to the championship, everyone can score points all the way to the checkered flag in Valencia. I concentrate on taking as many as possibleE.
Miguel Oliveira has an asset: KTM
This allusion to the RC16's room for improvement is not insignificant. KTM managed to transform a motorcycle that had gotten off to a bad start in a few Grands Prix. A feat when we see the situation of Honda, still the world's leading manufacturer. At the house of Yamaha , we seem timid in the race for development. As revealed by the veteran Valentino Rossi, no real updates are expected during the year. At most, the Misano test in September could bring progress, but currently the test team around Cal Crutchlow is inactive again.
This is a big difference with KTM, who constantly works with full commitment on the development of the RC16. Olive tree make no mistake: “ everyone wants to learn, the team absorbs information in races, everyone wants to improve. For a pilot, the most important thing is to be surrounded by such an environment ". Fortunately, meanwhile, Yamaha has a solid fabio quartararo at the helm of a boat that the procrastination of Casa Particular in Viñales and end-of-career management Red rocks from time to time...
MotoGP Championship ranking after Assen (9/19):
Credit classification motogp.com
