Miguel Oliveira managed to grab a top 10 finish at the end of the first day of a Portuguese Grand Prix that he had dominated so well five months earlier with his KTM. But repeating such a feat this year does not seem to be envisaged by the local stage which, at the end of this Friday, confirms the facts experienced in Qatar: the RC16 is the victim of the new Michelin tire allocation. A problem that can only follow the Austrian brand throughout this season, unless it finds a solution…
It is a fact thatAndrea Dovizioso repeated to satiety when he was still in office at Ducati : in MotoGP, it is better to get along with the Michelin . This season, the unique manufacturer has made some changes to its allocation. The majority of the board seems to welcome it, but KTM appears as the collateral victim. Thus, the front racing tire tested last year by the brand is no longer part of the allocation of the 21 slick tires that the drivers receive for each Grand Prix.
Au Qatar, the situation had been worrying but we were waiting for a route other than Losail to confirm or not the alert. Portimao, which brought so much satisfaction to KTM last November thus appeared as a sort of justice of the peace. And given the position of the RC16 at the end of the first day of Portuguese Grand Prix, we can be concerned about what happens next for the men of Mattighofen.
Olive tree is however ninth after the first two free practice sessions. But he owes this performance primarily to himself, judging by his comments: “ in FP1 we had mixed conditions with lots of wet spots » begins the Portuguese. “ It was difficult to understand where to attack and where not. You didn't know where to overtake either. Fortunately, it was dry in FP2. I expected a little more from the soft rear tire, even though I had good pace with the medium rear tire. But the soft tire is difficult to understand here at the moment. And up front we now have a “hard” mix that doesn’t give us enough support. It's too soft for us. We still have a lot to analyze to improve the bike ».
Oliveira: “there is a disagreement with Michelin”
The winning tire of 2020, with which Olive tree also won the Spielbeg-2, greatly missed by the Portuguese. He does not understand the approach of Michelin , and he makes it clear: “ The fact that we no longer have the H tire at the front as a soft compound is difficult for us. It was a very good tire. It is true that this mixture was mainly used by KTM, but sometimes also by some Honda riders. Now at KTM we are the only ones using the harshest mix here and up front. We have already described this compound as too soft in the two races in Qatar. This is a serious handicap for us. I don't understand how Michelin arrived at this decision ».
The director of Michelin, Piero Taramasso, said that the clear majority of drivers had spoken out against the continued use of this compound during the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix. A version thatOlive tree refuted: “ there is a disagreement with Michelin over the lack of soft front tires. They say the drivers unanimously voted against this compound up front. But that can't be right because, for example, I was never there for such a vote. There can therefore be no unanimity ».
« It was a tire that performed well at 30 degree track temperature. We still had this tire in Qatar, but it is missing here. This contradicts itself. But we have to live with it. All teams have the same tires available. Certainly, these compounds are better suited to some motorcycles than ours. Now it's up to us to make the best of the situation. We have to somehow get out of this misery » concludes the KTM official on speedweek. The other RC16s are far away. lecuona is penultimate, Petrucci 18th, just behind Brad Binder...
MotoGP Portugal J1: times
Credit classification motogp.com
