Miguel Oliveira destroyed: On a severity scale of 1 to 10, that was an 11

For Miguel Oliveira, it was already clear before the weekend that results were not the main focus at the Misano Circuit. After his six-week injury break, it was more about building confidence in the bike, not crashing and reminding his body of the exertions on a 250 hp machine.

After Friday's practice session, the BMW works rider was visibly exhausted, but on Saturday morning he qualified 11th on the grid, just 0.2 seconds faster than ROKiT team-mate Michael van der Mark, who was standing in for the injured Danilo Petrucci.

It was like Rocky Balboa's winter training camp - without the winter.

miguel oliveira

Miguel Oliveira almost gave up

In the first race on Saturday afternoon, Oliveira finished an astonishing eighth, although the gap to winner Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Ducati) was huge at 27.8 seconds. On a scale of 1 to 10, he rated the hardness of the race as 11, but the Portuguese rider also saw the positive aspects: "It was like a good workout in the gym at 30 degrees Celsius and exceeding the pain threshold. It was like Rocky Balboa's winter training camp - without the winter. It was tough. From lap 1 onwards, my bike had strange vibrations that almost made me give up. Anyone can imagine how bad they were. But I overcame that too by reducing my pace a little and trying to hold my position. That worked. Normally, I wouldn't be happy with eighth place and such a big gap - but I was today."

Third place in the world championship is still possible

Before his accident at Balaton Park Circuit, which was not his fault, Oliveira was third in the World Championship, now he is in ninth place with 93 points. While the Ducati factory riders are in a different league this season and are far ahead in the overall standings, the 31-year-old is 54 points behind third-placed Yari Montella (Barni Ducati). There are still 17 rounds of the World Championship to make up.

Oliveira doesn't want to think that far ahead: "It would be great to finish third in the world championship - why not? I'm taking it race by race, the championship is secondary for me at the moment. I'm not in the flow, I'm acting like a robot and I don't have my shoulder under full control yet. That's not ideal. Especially because this bike demands everything from me. If I approach it defensively, then it's over. But I can't yet ride as aggressively as I did six weeks ago. We need better turning, have to improve in the braking phase and increase stability. These are the key areas."