Miguel Oliveira “can’t be too happy” with 10th place in Aragon MotoGP practice

A 10th place for Miguel Oliveira in Practice at the Aragon MotoGP came with some margin.

The Portuguese rider explained that, while he was happy to be in Q2 straight from practice at MotorLand, he has room to improve with his feeling with the bike.

“It was for sure satisfying to be in Q2 already on Friday,” Oliveira told MotoGP.com. “Although I didn’t feel good with the bike, there are still some things that really hold me back to have a constant pace.

“The speed was more or less there, but it was 10th place, a second off. So, I’m happy but I can’t be too happy about it, there’s still a lot of work to do for tomorrow.

“It’s good that we finished the practice and we already got a good direction of what we need to do. So, excited to go out there for tomorrow morning and to get some work done before qualifying.”

Oliveira’s Trackhouse Aprilia teammate, Raul Fernandez, was more explicitly optimistic after his Friday at MotorLand, finishing one place better than Oliveira in ninth.

“Today, for us, was really positive,” he said. “We have to continue with our way, we need to understand more the bike. Now, it’s time to not think, to not put pressure; it’s time to work, to understand.

“Our target is after the Misano test we have to analyse everything, and we have to see what is the good way for us with this new bike. It’s not easy to change the bike in the middle of the season, but anyway I am very happy.

“Today I was really impressed, because especially the point that I had more problems with this bike, today I feel like I didn’t have any problems.

“I feel that I was fast and I feel that I can ride like I want, so basically we did a good job. Not only on the time attack, also on the pace I feel good with the bike, so today was a really positive day, also for Aprilia.”