Aiming At The Argentina MotoGP Podium, Miguel Oliveira Will Apply The Same Strategy As In Mandalika

KTM's Miguel Oliveira (center), wins the Mandalika MotoGP race. (Doc. MotoGP)

JAKARTA – Red Bull KTM racer Miguel Oliveira is eyeing pole position at the Argentine MotoGP this weekend. That is so that we can get back on the podium while continuing the positive trend of the Mandalika MotoGP.

The Portuguese rider got his first win this season during the race at the Mandalika Circuit, 20 March. In that race, the Portuguese rider started from seventh position.

To that end, Oliveira will apply the same strategy as in Mandalika, which is to aim for a better qualifying result in Argentina in order to return to the podium.

"In Mandalika, my goal is to get a better starting position in qualifying, because that is my biggest weakness so far. That will also be my mentality this weekend, I definitely have to be better in qualifying," Oliveira said as quoted by Speedweek.

The victory at Mandalika was Oliveira's fourth victory since making his MotoGP debut in 2019. He successfully conquered the wet track race to beat reigning champion Fabio Quartararo who finished second.

However, the race at the Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit does not necessarily take place on a wet track. However, he is confident and confident that his mount can give the same results as the race in Indonesia.

Oliveira has fond memories of the Autodromo Termas de Río Hondo Circuit. In 2017 and 2018 he was second and third on the podium in the Moto2 class.

Then in 2019 he finished eleventh as a MotoGP rookie.

"I think even in dry conditions we can fight for the podium. The win marks an important point in our result. It's been a long time since I scored so many points, especially the second half of the 2021 season was difficult in that regard," said Oliveira.

"We want to use the motivation from our win to be competitive here, in Argentina too. The weekend could be very successful for us. In 2019, KTM was not as good as it is now," he continued.

As previously reported, the MotoGP schedule in Argentina had to face schedule changes due to delays in cargo carrying the racing team's equipment. The delay was reportedly influenced by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

For this reason, the free practice schedule that should have started on Friday, April 1 local time, had to be shifted to Saturday, March 2. The first through third free practice and qualifiers will be held together on Saturday.

The third free practice time was also reduced to 30 minutes from the usual 45 minutes, while the fourth free practice was omitted. Meanwhile, the race will continue on Monday, March 4 in the morning WIB.