Portuguese Miguel Oliveira will line up after four years in the KTM Speed Motorcycle World Championship in the RNF, Aprilia’s satellite team, the Italian MotoGP team announced on Tuesday.
“Aprilia Racing and RNF confirm that Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez will join the team next season,” the team said in a statement.
Miguel Oliveira, 27, will end his contract with the Austrian manufacturer at the end of the season, with whom he made his MotoGP debut at Tech3 in 2019, and left for the factory team in 2021.
The rider from Almada, currently 10th in the rider standings, with 85 points, 115 less than Frenchman Fabio Quartararo, leader and world champion, has four victories in the ‘queen’ category of speed motorcycle racing, with the triumphs in Portimão and Styria in 2020 , last year in Barcelona and this season in Indonesia.
“All changes require hope. It was in this regard that I decided to embrace a new project. My journey at KTM was not short, I managed to win two runners-up. With them the biggest step has been taken. It is a journey that I am proud of… This year, 2022, was a year of opening and many opportunities. I always tried to make sure that I would fit in with KTM for the future, but during the negotiations we realized that the paths could part. I just have to thank KTM for the effort they put in. It’s the step I need for my career,” the pilot said at a press conference on Tuesday.
“We are very excited to welcome Miguel Oliveira and Raúl Fernández to the WithU RNF MotoGP Team from 2023. It was not an easy process, but together with Aprilia we were very clear about the riders we wanted,” said Razlan Razali, WithU -team. head of the RNF MotoGP team.
Ninth place in 2020 was the best classification achieved by Oliveira in the MotoGP World Championship, which was 14th in 2021 and 17th in his debut year.
Before coming to MotoGP, Miguel Oliveira was second in the Moto3 world, in 2015 and Moto2, in 2018, both in KTM, behind England’s Danny Kent and Italy’s Francesco Bagnaia respectively.
RNF Racing is a Malaysian team, which debuted in the MotoGP championship in 2022, in partnership with Yamaha, and which has an agreement with Aprilia from next year.
In the current championship they took part in the formation of Razlan Razali, whose name uses the first letters of their children’s names (Razali, Nadia and Farouk), the Italian Andrea Dovizioso and the South African Darryn Binder, the younger brother of Brad Binder, Miguel Oliveira’s current teammate at KTM.
Next season, Spaniard Raul Fernandez, who represents Tech3 this season, will be the Portuguese pilot’s teammate in the RNF.
At KTM, Miguel Oliveira will be replaced by Australian Jack Miller, who will join South African Brad Binder on the factory team.
Miguel Oliveira expects to have a place at Aprilia “in mind” within two years
Portuguese Miguel Oliveira today assumed he would sign for RNF, Aprilia’s satellite team in the Speed Motorcycle World Championship, with “in mind” a place on the Italian manufacturer’s works team at the end of the two-year contract.
“As we explored this opportunity, we knew that contracts are always for a period of two years, with the option to extend for another two years. Of course, this transition will be kept in mind, if both parties believe it is possible.” said the still pilot of the KTM, during a conference in Almada.
Oliveira discussed his future at a press conference, also stating that the change is “a step in the right direction” for a team that he believes will bring him “more opportunities” in the future to “achieve good results”.
The Portuguese confirmed that continuity at KTM has returned to options in recent weeks, but acknowledged that he preferred to “leave his comfort zone” to “exchange what was good for what is not”.
“Although the motorcycle [Aprilia] because it was very attractive it might have been more emotionally comfortable for me, even because of the conditions that improved during these negotiations with KTM it was very tempting to stay. But I believe it will be the right step for my future sportingly,” said the Almada-born pilot.
Regarding the fact that he left a factory team to ride a motorcycle from a satellite structure again, the Portuguese emphasized that “there is some overvaluation of factory places these days, which is desirable in terms of image, but coach doesn’t care much about the official teams”.
“All manufacturers have this philosophy of wanting the manufacturer to come out on top at the end of the races, not just that team or driver. Therefore, of course, the driver who performs better will be rewarded for that,” he assumed. from. .
But for now, Miguel Oliveira has seven World Speed Championship races left for KTM and won’t get his first chance to try out his future bike until November, in the final race of this season.
“I have been given permission so that I can do an official training day with the new bike at the end of this year, in Valencia. The next year, of course, we will test both in Malaysia and here in Portimão, before the first Grand Prix also in Portimão,” revealed the pilot.
Source: DN
