Miguel Oliveira will face a MotoGP season that will see many changes. The Portuguese driver “debuts”, first of all, with a new team. Trackhouse is his new home following Razlan Razali's departure from RNF Racing due to financial problems, especially with his sponsor, CryptoDATA. The American team, which comes from NASCAR, inherited the structure, the riders and the bike, which was presented last Saturday at an event held in Los Angeles.
Trackhouse will face its first season in the premier class a year earlier than expected, as its plans were focused on the 2025 season. However, this does not stop them from starting with a bang. The team founded by Justin Marks is based on a stronger bond with Aprilia as a satellite team compared to the RNF, and this entails the presence of official bikes for 2024, such as those of Aleix Espargaró and Maverick Viñales.
The roadmap calls for both Oliveira and Raúl Fernández to have two latest generation RS-GPs in 2024, although at the moment they only have one, which went to the Portuguese rider. In the statements collected by GPOne colleagues, the Almada driver recognizes that it is a “leap into the void”, even if he trusts in the Noale factory.
“I will make a two-year leap, from the 2022 bike to the 2024 bike,” Oliveira said after the Trackhouse presentation. “The sensations will be different and I will need time to adapt. I think that in the first two races I might not fully exploit the potential of the bike, but then I think I will be able to consistently remain in the top positions. It's a leap into the unknown, but I have trust in Aprilia”.
He also confirmed that he will continue with the same technical team: “It's nice to continue with the same team and we will have good support from Aprilia. It's good because having the official bike is not easy. The guys from Noale have already given us a hand last year and this season we will have the same support and more people in the garage to help us. I think they will be ready to handle two more bikes.”
Oliveira is also hoping for a luckier 2024, after an injury-plagued 2023, which ended with a fracture of his right scapula. The Lusitanian pilot recognizes that he is now 100% fit after having undergone surgery to resolve compartment syndrome: “At the end of November I underwent surgery to resolve my compartment syndrome problem, but I had time to recover. It was a difficult December, but I managed to train well and now I can say I'm 100% and I can't wait for Sepang to arrive to see what my true level is. I also rode three days in Portimao and everything seemed to go well, but the RSV4 is very different from a MotoGP. So far everything seems good and I'm ready for Malaysia, but it's one thing to ride a road bike and another to ride a MotoGP, they're two different sports.”
Oliveira, who laughingly admits that he doesn't understand NASCAR, also explains his feelings with Trackhouse: “The first impression is very good, you understand that they come from racing and you understand what their approach to MotoGP is. Now we have to gain more experience together Race after race, time will allow us to get to know each other better.”
As for the future, number 88 isn't thinking about it yet: “Last year I think I finished 9 races, my only thought is to repay Aprilia for the trust they placed in me. 90% of the riders are contract expiring, so I'm worried, like everyone. But I would say it's a bit early to talk about the future, it's not in my thoughts at the moment. Considering that contracts are broken early, they could put a transfer window in the middle season, like in football, to change teams on the fly, but it's not up to me to decide these things”, he specified.
Finally, Oliveira admitted that he would like to see fewer sprint races: “For this season I don't think anything can be changed in terms of format. At the end of last year we saw that everyone managed to adapt, it was a little better. It was a question of experience, even if it brought more stress because you always have to be fast. Obviously, as a driver, I would like to see less sprinting,” he concluded.
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