The Argentine Grand Prix has significantly altered its schedules due to a delay in the arrival of the material to the world championship paddock, and as their prototypes are not available, the affected teams will not be able to compete in the free practice session on Friday.
This situation will be especially felt by the mechanics and drivers, whose work is affected due to not having the necessary material to prepare for the weekend. To avoid this problem, Dorna opted to suspend the day and group, in Saturday’s session, the free practice sessions and the classification of the three categories.
Contrary to teams like Gresini Racing, KTM has part of its material.
“We have to feel happy because in my case we only need one bike, while other teams have nothing,” said Miguel Oliveira at the press conference for the Argentine Grand Prix.
“Now we have to condense everything on Saturday and this will be a challenge, especially for the mechanics,” he added.
However, nothing detracts from the illusion of the Portuguese driver, who arrives at the Argentine track after savoring victory during the Indonesian Grand Prix.
“Mandalika has marked an important milestone in our results. It’s been a long time since I got so many points, especially after the second half of the season last year.”
“The track conditions were complex,” he recalled. “We are competitive both in the dry and in the wet, but in the dry I feel that we can reach the podium and we want to continue with the same motivation and enthusiasm that the victory has given us to be very competitive here”.
“The weekend can go very well,” he ventured. “In 2019 the bike wasn’t even close to what we have now. Now I think we can aim for higher positions, I think we can be competitive.”
Miguel Oliveira is looking for stability after a year marked by ups and downs in the premier class: “Even this year I already started with a zero and then finished off with a victory. It all starts with the qualifiers,” he insisted with a laugh.
“In Mandalika I wanted to get better qualifiers and that’s my goal here too.”
Regarding the new design of the Red Bull Ring, the Portuguese driver is satisfied, since “the direction of the change is what was requested”.
“The drivers wanted the arrival at turn 3 to be slower, and now with the chicane you don’t avoid having to brake at more than 300km/h. The changes have followed the recommendations of the drivers and Dorna, and they have tried adapt it in this period of time”.
“But, with so many protected natural areas, we understand that it has not been easy to reach a solution that satisfies all parties. Therefore, we must make an effort to make it work, because there has been pressure for change.”
