Miguel Oliveira highlights Estoril WorldSBK’s ‘delicate situation’

WorldSBK riders are facing a “delicate” situation this weekend at the Estoril Round, Miguel Oliveira says.

Oliveira had a decent Friday, especially by the recent standards of BMW which has struggled to be in the top-10 in the last couple of WorldSBK rounds, finishing fourth in FP2.

The Portuguese rider, though, noted afterwards that things are complicated with the front tyre choice.

“We are aware that the front tyre situation is a little bit delicate, so we keep our options open,” Miguel Oliveira told WorldSBK.com.

“For sure we need to be ready to use another front compound if we need.”

In general, though, Oliveira was pleased with his first day at Estoril.

“It was a good Friday,” he said. “The balance was already in a good level since we started FP1. Then we made some adjustments for the second practice and the bike was okay. 

“We had some difficulties putting together a good fast lap, so we are looking to do some more adjustments tomorrow to be able to get the best out of the whole package. But for today I think the pace was not that bad and I think the conditions were a little bit hard with the wind and the lack of grip. 

“So, I think we did a good solid Friday. I’m not over-optimistic for tomorrow, so we’ll work and do the best we can within our package to get the best lap possible.”

Oliveira expanded on the changes made in FP2, which were suspension-related.

“Essentially we did a couple of adjustments to the suspension that was basic stuff,” the Portuguese rider explained.

“It put us a little bit more in the window that we need to work and for that reason the step was good. 

“Already as a base I was close to the top-five, then in the last few minutes when more or less everybody used a new tyre we were again able to get a good two laps. 

“So, happy about that and hopefully tomorrow we can put some more stuff together.”