The Portuguese rider is coming off a great victory at the last Indonesian Grand Prix held in Mandalika, but he knows that what he needs from now on is to achieve consistency, something that he has lacked in the past despite having already won four races in MotoGP.
Asked by Motorsport.com in an exclusive talk on how to achieve that much-needed consistency, Oliveira notes that “there are two ways to look at it” and explains that his part as a driver is to excel in qualifying.
“On the one hand, I think I have to improve my qualifying positions, so that’s basically my number one goal for this season. It’s one of the things I have to be more consistent with,” he said.
“The other thing of course is the technical package, which I think we’ve taken in the right direction. I think we can be more relaxed and not have to chase a result, and the fact that we’re already there in terms of starting positions. “It’s going to be a great help to maintain this consistency. So far the season has started with a zero and with a win. For sure we need to see more races to achieve this consistency, so that’s the goal,” he added.
At the moment Miguel Oliveira started 14th in the season opener in Qatar and seventh in Indonesia, while last season he only qualified in the first two rows of the grid on four occasions –in fact he never reached the first- to throughout the 18 Grand Prix.
Oliveira, 27, admits that the mental part plays an important role for him in reaching a good result on Saturdays.
“Technically, there are things that can be done, but also the step for me was something more mental than just the bike,” he said.
“Just putting the energy into doing a lap. With the (qualifying) format it’s not enough to be a hard worker, it’s not enough to be consistent, it’s not enough to be a driver who does a lot of good laps over the weekend, or It builds speed. It’s just one lap. If you go into Saturday afternoon knowing that 12th is going to be your worst starting position, that already gives you a different boost going into the race.
On the other hand, Oliveira assures that the very good performance shown by KTM at the start of the season does not put pressure on the team.
“No, it’s the same. I understand that when we win for the first time, that’s different because suddenly you have all the attention on you. I think we changed our philosophy of work a little bit, and this philosophy and this method basically brought us victory. I think it is something that we have attracted and not pursued. Therefore, there is a big difference.”
