The worst first lap: BMW ace Miguel Oliveira lost nine places

Fifth in Superpole, plus fourth in the first race and the Superpole Race – Miguel Oliveira brought BMW back within striking distance of the podium at the Superbike meeting at the Circuito do Estoril. And had the Portuguese rider not had a poor first lap in the second race, a top-five finish would have been possible there too.

What happened? Oliveira didn’t get off to a spectacular start, but a solid one; however, he lost four positions in the very first corners. After a mistake in Turn 6, he dropped further down the order, and the local hero emerged from Lap 1 in 13th place.

“I tried to get onto the inside line, but got caught up in the pack and it didn’t work out. As a result, I was already further back than I’d expected,” Oliveira admitted to a small group of journalists. “After that, I got a strange kick from the kerb in Turn 6. I had to ease off the brakes to get the bike back into the right position, which meant I had to take a very wide line. And then, well, then I think I lost another position in every corner. What can I say: it was a very poor first lap.”

Willkommen in Estoril

Foto: Gold & Goose

Yari Montella

Foto: Gold & Goose

Miguel Oliveira

Foto: Gold & Goose

Alberto Surra

Foto: Gold & Goose

Nicolò Bulega

Foto: Gold & Goose

Lorenzo Baldassarri

Foto: Gold & Goose

Alex Lowes

Foto: Gold & Goose

Iker Lecuona

Foto: Gold & Goose

Nicolò Bulega

Foto: Gold & Goose

Jake Dixon

Foto: Gold & Goose

Yari Montella

Foto: Gold & Goose

Miguel Oliveira

Foto: Gold & Goose

Axel Bassani

Foto: Gold & Goose

Lorenzo Baldassarri

Foto: Gold & Goose

Álvaro Bautista

Foto: Gold & Goose

Nicolò Bulega gewinnt beide Läufe in Estoril

Foto: Gold & Goose

Bulega und Lecuona

Foto: Gold & Goose

Lecuona, Bulega, Surra

Foto: Gold & Goose

Sieger Nicolò Bulega

Foto: Gold & Goose

Yari Montella

Foto: Gold & Goose

Willkommen in Estoril

© Gold & Goose

In the broad midfield, the former MotoGP rider was clearly struggling to overtake rivals who were, in some cases, significantly slower. “The problem is that I can’t ride the bike the way you’d need to when you’re behind other riders. We can’t ride our own line then, and we can’t choose our braking point freely. That makes it harder when you’ve got other lads in front of you,” explained the 31-year-old. “The tyres also felt strange for the first three laps, as if they were under-inflated. When leaning into a corner, it felt as though the carcass was giving way, and I had a lot of slides. So I had to be more cautious, and I could feel vibrations too. That was an additional problem in the early stages. Once I was able to ride at my own pace, my potential was much higher, but I was stuck in the pack.”

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How much did Oliveira regret losing out to Ducati privateer Alberto Surra in the Superpole race, which meant he narrowly missed out on third place by just 0.141 seconds? “For a moment, I dreamt of the podium,” smiled the BMW rider. “At the same time, I knew it would be difficult to achieve. I’d already said on Saturday that our potential lay in fourth or fifth place and that we’d need a bit of luck too. For my part, I couldn’t have done any more.”