Miguel Oliveira braver and tougher than expected - but that was too brutal

"We didn't expect Miguel to make it through the race," said BMW Technical Director Chris Gonschor after his strong eighth place on Saturday, emphasising what a great performance the 31-year-old had put in. It has been six weeks since the Portuguese rider was wrecked on the Balaton Park Circuit, breaking his shoulder blade and damaging his tendons and ligaments.

Oliveira qualified eleventh in Misano and fought his way up to eighth place in the first main race despite his physical limitations, but rated the effort as 11 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Willkommen zum Rennwochenende in Misano, Nicolò Bulega

Foto: Gold & Goose

Paddock

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Kawasaki Motorhome

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Álvaro Bautista

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Axel Bassani

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Iker Lecuona & Nicolò Bulega

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Das Bike von Sam Lowes

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Iker Lecuona

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Lorenzo Baldassarri

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Álvaro Bautista

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Andrea Locatelli

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Nicolò Bulega

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Michael van der Mark

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Yari Montella

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Sam Lowes

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Somkiat Chantra

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Ryan Vickers

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Michael van der Mark

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Garrett Gerloff

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Alex Lowes

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Iker Lecuona

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Xavi Vierge

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Garrett Gerloff

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Alex Lowes

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Nicolò Bulega

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Yari Montella

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Iker Lecuona

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Nicolò Bulega

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Superpole - Iker Lecuona, Nicolò Bulega & Alex Lowes

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Rennen - Iker Lecuona, Nicolò Bulega & Yari Montella

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Sieger Nicolò Bulega

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Willkommen zum Rennwochenende in Misano, Nicolò Bulega

© Gold & Goose

In the Superpole race on Sunday morning, the five-time MotoGP winner even shone in sixth place, which cannot be rated highly enough in view of his physical condition. When the second main race started two and a half hours later, with 33 degrees Celsius in the shade and 55 degrees hot tarmac, it quickly became clear that Miguel was not up to it. After the first third of the race, he pulled the emergency brake, gave up and returned to the pits - where he was greeted with standing ovations!

Miguel Oliveira knows: That was an achievement

"The fact that I managed the 21 laps on Saturday was an achievement," said Oliveira. "On Sunday morning I woke up in pain and felt down. I had to abandon the warm-up because I couldn't ride the last two laps, that's how bad it was. In the Superpole race I somehow managed to complete the ten laps, even if not every one of them at 100 per cent. But at least I was able to secure a decent position. In the afternoon, I quickly realised that I was feeling the same as in the warm-up and that I wouldn't be able to race."

"I didn't have it under control," admitted the BMW ace. "You can't race like that. Normally there is no reason for me to give up in a race, but this time it was the right thing to do. The team was mega: they supported me at every stage of my recovery and didn't hold me to any expectations when I came back. They left the door open for me to make any decision I felt made sense. We gathered some good data that can help us with future tuning."

These efforts will help Oliveira

Oliveira firmly believes that the massive effort over the three days in Misano will help his recovery process. "The pain in my shoulder has nothing to do with the injury itself," he emphasised. "After two days, the inflammation will have subsided and the pain will be gone. Then I can start rehab again and work on building up my muscles. I would say that I am in the final phase of my recovery."

After Misano, the Superbike World Championship will have an initial summer break of just under four weeks before continuing at Donington Park in mid-July. After that, there will be an eight-week break until the races at Magny-Cours. This will be followed by the events in Cremona/Italy, Estoril/Portugal and Jerez/Spain.

Oliveira and ROKiT team-mate Danilo Petrucci, who missed Misano due to injury and was replaced by Michael van der Mark, will test at Donington Park on 23 June. This will be followed by two more days at the Circuit Nevers de Magny-Cours at the end of August.