Oliveira ‘brakes’ in with KTM Tech3

Miguel Oliveira says discovering the braking power and style in MotoGP has been the biggest lesson learnt on his opening day of winter testing with the new-look KTM Tech3 Racing squad.

Oliveira steps up from Moto2 this winter, having won his final race in the intermediate class last weekend, and got to grips with the KTM Tech3 machine at Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

Oliveira ‘brakes’ in with KTM Tech3

Miguel Oliveira says discovering the braking power and style in MotoGP has been the biggest lesson learnt on his opening day of winter testing with the new-look KTM Tech3 Racing squad.

Oliveira steps up from Moto2 this winter, having won his final race in the intermediate class last weekend, and got to grips with the KTM Tech3 machine at Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

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The Portuguese rider completed 33 laps on the first day despite track time being truncated by a wet circuit in the morning before the rain returned to wipe out the final 90 minutes.

Despite ending the day bottom of the timesheets, 3.7 seconds off pace-setter Maverick Vinales on the factory Yamaha, Oliveira was enthused by his MotoGP debut.

“I think it is always better than what you expect because the feeling is so different to a Moto2 bike,” Oliveira said. “It is just a shame about the amount of laps that we didn’t do as I was hoping to get more laps and get used to it but finally the weather was a little bit unstable today and we couldn’t get a dry session as we wanted.”

Oliveira pinpointed his handling of the MotoGP brakes as his biggest area of learning and feels a totally different riding style is required compared to braking in Moto2 due to the electronics package and carbon disc brakes.

“Basically everything starts with the brake,” he said. “The powerful braking of the MotoGP carbon discs makes it easy to stop but at the same time you have to be really precise to stop the bike in a good moment, turn it and pick it up. That’s where all the time is and you need to get used to it.

“The way of braking in Moto2 you cannot really rely on it coming in to MotoGP and be prepared. First the power you do on delivery is less than in Moto2 and the braking time is longer. The braking power and the sensitivity on the front lever is so much higher and the time being so long so you need to be really precise. This is what is difficult.

“For that reason I didn’t find it too different as the Moto2 bike is already sliding quite a lot even without traction control. With throttle management you already need to have it in Moto2.

“This is not so bad to come into MotoGP as this part is actually easier as you have a lot of electronics help to get the bike sliding as you want it to deliver it as you want. It is actually the opposite as you need to really rely on the electronics to be able to get out of the corners.”

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