MotoGP, Miguel Oliveira: “Raúl Fernández will be fast right away”

The 2022 MotoGP season draws ever closer and manufacturers are starting to unveil their new bikes. Today was the turn of KTM, a manufacturer that has had big ambitions since arriving in the reigning class, ambitions that have become increasingly realistic thanks to a bike that has improved to such an extent over the last four years as to become a race winner. The goal now though is to fight for the world title with factory riders Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder and help talented rookies Remy Gardner and Raúl Fernández to develop.

It’s too soon to talk titles: "We’ll see step by step"

---

Miguel Oliveira has been a sure thing on the MotoGP grid for several years already. Fast and reliable, he’s never concealed his ambitions. The 2018 Moto2 runner-up is the only Portuguese rider to have ever won a MotoGP race, a statistic that has inevitably seen him become the unofficial leader of the entire motorcycle movement in his country. A point of reference just as fellow countryman Cristiano Ronaldo is in football. The pair recently starred in an advert together: “I’m still a long way from achieving results like Cristiano, but I have the same desire”.

According to Oliveira, the season will depend on the bike set-up work: "There’ll be some new elements of course, but I think we’ll need to work on the set-up. We can improve a lot there to find greater speed, though I don’t know if the testing time we have will be sufficient. All the bikes have improved, particularly the Ducati. Last year, we didn’t obtain the results we wanted so we need to keep working”. The wrist injury Miguel sustained last year definitely didn’t help him: "It was tough because I wanted to do certain things but I couldn’t, and I didn’t see that happening. As soon as you make mistakes in MotoGP, you find yourself lagging behind and it’s difficult”.

It’s not realistic to think about the title right now, but neither is it impossible: "As for the title, we need to see step by step, many things would need to happen, and we’ll only know what might be possible once the championship is underway. For now, my goal is to be consistent”.

Translated by Heather Watson

MotoGP, Brad Binder: “Darryn? He has what it takes to fight with the others”