Miguel Oliveira had two very different training sessions on day one in Malaysia. While in FP1 the Portuguese was on track on a dry surface, the tarmac at Sepang was wet for FP2 after the second Moto2 practice session was interrupted by heavy rain at the Malaysian circuit.
At the end of the day, Oliveira finished with the 17th best combined time, as his FP2 times – where he finished 11th – were not fast enough for the Portuguese rider (and all his rivals) to be higher on the lap. Friday timesheet.
By way of balance, Miguel Oliveira said a few words at the microphone of SPORT TV:
– It was a strange day. We ended up following the strategy of not putting on tires at the end of the session during the first free practice. We weren’t expecting all that rain in the afternoon either, so it was a bit unexpected in that sense, but you can’t control that. So what you can’t control, you adapt and that’s what we did. Without getting too crazy, we touched the bike a bit, even in the wet I felt a little better and tomorrow it’s about continuing the work we had planned for this afternoon.
He continued: “It doesn’t take away our confidence as [Brad] Binder with the old tire was slightly slower than me, then with the new one he was able to take that step forward, which makes us a bit more relaxed for the fast lap. I think tomorrow we will go much faster than this morning, much faster.
It should be noted that in FP2, none of the KTM factory team riders were on slicks. In FP1, Brad Binder completed two runs on fresh tyres, while Oliveira took to the tarmac for the second time on the tires he started the session on.
