Miguel Oliveira (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) started his home round at the Circuito Estoril strongly in front of his fans with P4 on the combined timesheets in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Champion. The Portuguese star was just a few tenths away from pacesetter Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) on Friday at the Tissot Estoril Round as he goes in search of a return to the rostrum.
In Free Practice 1, Oliveira finished in tenth place after setting a 1’36.490s, just under a second away from Bulega’s time. With BMW completing a test at the Portuguese venue in August, long runs weren’t on the agenda in FP1, with the #88’s longest stint being just five laps. His best time came at the start of the second run.
It was a similar story in FP2 for Oliveira. His longest run was four laps, completed on three occasions (not including in and out laps). It’s hard to gauge his race pace from the limited length of his stints, but when he put on a new tyre at the end of the session, along with the majority of the grid, Oliveira flew up the order to finish in fourth place in both FP2 and the combined classification.
Reflecting on his Friday, Oliveira said: “It was a good Friday. The balance was already at a good level from the start of FP1. Then we made some adjustments for the second session and the bike was okay. We had some difficulties putting together a good fast lap, so we’re looking to make more adjustments tomorrow to be able to get the most out of the package. For today, I think the pace was not that bad. The conditions were a bit hard with the wind and the lack of grip. We had a good, solid Friday.”
The Portuguese rider also explained the steps and changes being made to his BMW M 1000 RR throughout the day. With the August test providing a solid base, Friday was about adapting to track and weather conditions rather than massive changes, but the tweaks made to the bike helped Oliveira, who has four WorldSBK podiums to his name, climb up the order.
On the changes, Oliveira said: “Essentially, we made a couple of adjustments to the suspension. It put us a little more in the window that we need to work, so for that reason the step was good. Already, as a base, I was close to the top five. Then, again, in the last few minutes when more or less everybody used a new tyre, we were again able to get a good two laps. I’m happy about that and hopefully tomorrow we can put some more stuff together. It’ll be good if we can get a good result. I’ll do my best and also the team. It’ll be nice to finish the season strong and start preparing for the future.”
Three of Oliveira’s four WorldSBK rostrums came on home soil at Portimao when the Championship visited for Round 2. With packed grandstands cheering him on then, and the #88 rewarding them with a triple trip to the podium, will Oliveira be able to repeat his success at his second home round of the season?
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