‘Frustrating’ but Oliveira inspired by Vinales: ‘He clicked, found the sweet spot’

While Maverick Vinales made a dramatic breakthrough with the 2024 Aprilia in Portimao, Trackhouse rider Miguel Oliveira felt he is still taking ‘baby steps’ with the factory-spec machine.

After a tough pre-season and opening Qatar round, Vinales romped to a Sprint victory in Portimao and was on course for a grand prix podium until hitting gearbox problems.

The Spaniard’s last lap exit left team-mate Aleix Espargaro, who had shone on the 2024 RS-GP until Portimao, as the top Aprilia in eighth place, 1.5s clear of Oliveira.

“Real baby steps!” said Oliveira, when asked if he was progressing with the factory-spec bike. “Would have liked something bigger.”

The Portuguese, who crossed the finish line 24s behind race winner Jorge Martin (Pramac Ducati), added: 

“The feeling I have is good. I'm fully adapted to the Aprilia riding style and everything, but just the bike is not working as it should do and it's quite frustrating. But we need to keep working and try to find a way.”

While Espargaro has something of a unique riding style, Vinales’ Portimao breakthrough could provide vital clues for Oliveira.

“Luckily we had an Aprilia winning the Sprint which can allow us to compare the data,” Oliveira had said on Saturday evening.

Although admitting Vinales is “for sure” a much closer match in terms of physical size and riding style, the five-time KTM MotoGP race winner was quick to credit the #12:

“It's not only the [data] comparison, Maverick is riding very well. He is effortlessly riding quite good, doing really nice pick-ups [out of the corners] and seems not to have so much trouble to go in fast into the corners.

“I think he just clicked with the bike and there’s no coming back! I think he found the sweet spot for him and it's working. We are not there yet. I think we are 95% there, but 5% now in MotoGP is a huge difference.”

The speed of Vinales’ turnaround, after barely breaking into the top ten in Qatar, also highlighted how quickly things can change in MotoGP.

“We know this is the category. One day you can be deep in the mud, the other day you can be completely refreshed,” Oliveira said. “And this is it, you know. We have to keep fighting, persisting and trying to find a way with the team.”

Oliveira will continue searching for the sweet spot on his 2024 RS-GP at the Trackhouse team’s home COTA round, this weekend.

Team-mate Raul Fernandez, the only Aprilia rider now on the 2023 spec bike, is still seeking his first points of the year.