Oliveira carries momentum with top three turn, 0.048s off first

Miguel Oliveira picked up from where he left off in Jerez to fall just 0.048s shy of the top spot in second free practice for the Czech Republic MotoGP in Brno, round three of the 2020 season.

The Portuguese rider comes into the weekend on the high of not only cracking Q2 for the first-time last time out in the Andalusian MotoGP, but going on to place the Tech 3 KTM RC16 fifth on the grid.

Though his efforts in the race were ruined at turn one when he was clipped off by KTM stablemate Brad Binder, Oliveira confirmed the step forward he has made over the winter by once again proving competitive in FP2.

Coming close to topping the timesheets for the French-based satellite team, Oliveira was delighted to be featuring at the sharp end once more.

"Obviously, I feel comfortable. The last race in Jerez really gave us a clearer idea about the direction to take with the setting of the bike, the speed and just the time attack.

“This afternoon, we managed to do a great job. We had to go through all the tyres and see which one was working better. We had a decent pace and, in the end, everything worked out well. Being third overall of today feels truly good."

On the other side of the garage, team-mate Iker Lecuona was having a harder time adapting to the rigours of MotoGP around the long, sweeping Czech circuit in 20th overall.

"It was a really difficult day. This track is completely new for me with the MotoGP bike and to be honest, it was never one of my favorites. Now with the KTM RC16, I need to learn a lot in just a short time. I struggled quite a lot, although I could improve my lap time this afternoon.

“Still, the gap to the front is too big, so I need to continue to work hard together with my team, there are some decisions to take for tomorrow and then we hope to be faster on Saturday."