'A positive start' - Oliveira content with first MotoGP test in the factory team

'I’m not worried at all. We clearly know what we need to go faster' - Miguel Oliveira concludes opening MotoGP test of 2021 with an 11th place finish, but is confident of competing at the sharp end.

Robert Jones

09 Mar 2021

Miguel Oliveira, Qatar MotoGP test, 6 March 2021
© Gold and Goose

Two-time race winner in 2020 Miguel Oliveira completes the opening MotoGP test of 2021 in 11th place for the factory KTM team.

The Portuguese rider finished +0.726s behind Fabio Quartararo on his debut with the team, but over a second clear of any other KTM rider.

Asked if he was worried by the lap time difference, Oliveira said: "No. I’m not worried at all. We clearly know what we need to go faster. The team will already have a couple of ideas for the three next days. From my side, of course I would have liked to have gone a bit faster.

"In order to be competitive we need to go faster than what we are right now, but at the same time I'm happy because with the bike still not quite there, we are able to be in the 1m 54s which is my best lap-time at this track and of course better than last year.

"A positive start and in these days we had quite a good warm-up and contact with the team and everything."

KTM made huge steps forward in the 2020 season as they clinched their first wins in the premier class.

Brad Binder's spectacular performance in Brno secured the factory team's first ever win, while Oliveira's two wins came at the Red Bull Ring and Portimao for Tech 3 where he led from start to finish.

With both riders expected to push towards a championship challenge, making another step is clearly the primary focus. The RC16 largely remains the same for this season, as Oliveira only tried some new aerodynamic fairings during the two days.

"Well, the bike is actually the same. We have the same spec of frame, swingarm and engine," said Oliveira.

"We did test a couple of aerodynamic fairings in order to build up a bit of front tyre temperature and also try to gain a bit of top speed, so these were the main targets for the fairing testing.

"Apart from that we didn’t do much. Just little adjustments – like everyone – on electronics, on suspension but nothing major. Geometry of the bike, we haven’t gone there yet, so we still have a bit of margin to improve, so quite happy about that."

An area that has been a big focus around the paddock at testing so far, are the new front and rear holeshot devices.

Oliveira has also been able to test this out, saying: "We did a couple of starts yesterday with both rear and front holeshots devices and it seems to be working well.

"The whole point of these devices is that we can get to the first corner and have the bike in a good position which is key. We need to make sure now that we have more runs and more starts to see if there is any problem coming up.

"They are meant to give not only better performance on the start speed itself, but also better consistency when you have a real start on the grid with many bikes around you."