Victory in Austria ‘is possible, we’ve done it in the past’ - Oliveira

Miguel Oliveira will make a return to the scene of his first ever MotoGP win this weekend, but this time as a factory rider for KTM. 

While winning for Tech 3 KTM at the Red Bull Ring in 2020 was a home win for the Austrian manufacturer, delivering the same result in 2021 aboard a factory Red Bull KTM machine in front of a full capacity crowd would no doubt top last year’s achievement. 

And with Oliveira coming into the weekend on a streak of four consecutive top fives - including three podiums and a win - only championship leader Fabio Quartararo has demonstrated similar form since Mugello, it’s the type of momentum the Portuguese rider is aiming to carry forward starting this weekend.  

Oliveira said: "Yes, coming in as we finished the last four races in the first half of the season, for sure is highly motivating for us. 

"We are on a positive moment and we want to start the second half of the season with high positive results. 

"From last year I wasn’t the fastest, the most consistent, so there's definitely some work I need to do here to be a protagonist. 

"Tomorrow it starts the first practice and since the beginning we want to be there, we want to be competitive and we want to fight with the best. Let’s see what the weekend brings. 

"For sure, we would like to put in a good performance for all the KTM And Red Bull fans here in these upcoming weekends."  

If Oliveira is to fight for the win, then his main challenge is likely to come from Ducati. Austria has been Ducati territory five out of the six times they’ve raced there since 2016.

"It’s possible (victory) because we have done it in the past. Our four bikes were quite fast here on both weekends last year," added Oliveira. 

"There is no reason to not think of a good result. There will be many contenders for the win and for the top five, everything will be very tight as we know because it’s a short lap time track."