Miguel Oliveira ‘will consider’ Tech3 return, but...

Miguel Oliveira will receive a new MotoGP contract offer from KTM but might be moved back to the satellite Tech3 team for 2023.

Peter McLaren

27 May 2022

Oliveira began his MotoGP career at Tech3 in 2019, making history for the French squad with two victories during 2020.

That success propelled Oliveira to the factory Red Bull KTM team alongside Brad Binder for 2021, where the Portuguese has gone on to take two more wins.

However, his results have been ‘spiky’, leaving Oliveira just 14th overall in last year’s standings and only eleventh so far in 2022, with non-scores in three of the seven races.

Binder, eighth in the world championship, is currently the only KTM rider confirmed for next season and at Mugello motorsport director Pit Beirer told Dorna’s Jack Appleyard that the factory is talking with the likes of Alex Rins, Pol Espargaro and Jack Miller.

Should one or more of those names arrive, it’s possible Oliveira might be asked to make way and return to Tech3.

“We’ll decide later which rider will be where,” Beirer said. “We told [Oliveira] that KTM will make him an offer [2023] but there is a chance he could move to Tech3. He was not super happy, but he wants to stay with KTM.”

After finishing Friday practice in 14th place, Oliveira confirmed: “This [Tech3 return] was something that was offered [to me] this week. I will consider it, but it will not be my dream place.”

Tech3 currently fields an all-rookie line-up of Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez, whose MotoGP futures are also unclear.

Oliveira questions wings after scary FP1 incident

Oliveira's day began with a scary incident along the 350km/h Mugello main straight. While being passed by Aleix Espargaro, Oliveira was forced onto the grass, fortunately keeping control.

"Aleix got sucked into my slipstream and it's a quite particular place because we are over a crest, there is a wall, there is wind all of a sudden. We have a little bit of lean angle. So it's borderline," he said.

"It’s the aero thing. The turbulence created by the dirty air. When you go on the slipstream, you catch the slipstream straight and you want to get off as quick as possible. So you're not in the dirty air. So you go to clean air immediately.

"But what he did was that he stayed out and he got sucked in. And that wind really pushed me out.

"I'm all for innovation and performance but when these kinds of things happen, it makes you reflect a little bit. Should we really be with the wings? What do they really bring to the show? Is it really that much better? And maybe it's a bit dangerous. So we need to address it quite seriously.

"I think it needs to come from all the riders and not just from one guy from time to time or one brand, one constructor pushing for not having or having it. Let's see."

Aleix Espargaro: Straight has to be modified for the future

Espargaro said: "With Miguel it was very dangerous. I was talking with him just now and said, ‘I'm very sorry maybe I didn't calculate really good, maybe I was very close’.

"And he said to me ‘no, no, you were far from me, but the wind pushed me out of the track’ and he said if it was not asphalt there it was very dangerous.

"So I turned [through the kink], I was far from him, but the wind pushed me on the left and the same wind pushed him out of the track.

"The wings give us a lot of stability there, now it's very easy to pass through there at 350-360km/h, there is no problem. The bike doesn't move. But when you follow another bike and you have turbulence, the rider really cannot control the wind at that speed.

"So we have to be very careful for the race and for me this place has to be modified for the future. 100%. No doubt. [The kink on the home straight] has to be straight.".