Miguel Oliveira took a “more careful approach” to his MotoGP return at Le Mans after witnessing the comeback of Jorge Martin’s nightmare injury in Qatar.
Oliveira, who missed three rounds in Argentina due to a shoulder injury, was present at Lesail Padoc when champion Martin made his long-awaited Aprilia Grand Prix debut.
However, the Spaniards’ weekend ended with a disaster, and after a pace of competition for the opening 10 laps, his Times rose a second ago to crash from 17th on lap 14.
Falls directly before Martin’s Fabio di Giannantonio – the future of Aprilia is doubtful – suffered from 11 rib fractures as well as lung damage, forcing him to remain in Qatar until he was considered healthy enough to fly.
Miguel Oliveira acknowledges warning after Jorge Martin’s injury
Jorge Martin
In an interview with sponsor Estrella Galicia, Pramac Yamaha rider replied if Martin’s crash had prompted him to “rethink” about returning to Jerez, rather than waiting for Le Mans:
“I was thinking about coming back early (at Jerez), but I didn’t do that because of physical limitations – not because Martin might have come back early.
“That being said, I have always made solid progress by taking a more careful approach to get back to Le Mans, what happened to Martin.
“I tried not to do anything more than my body allowed, so my frustration went out of my way.
“When I saw what Martin did from the outside, there was no doubt about that.”
People like Mark Marquez previously encouraged Jorge Martin to take the time before attempting to return to MotoGP.
“Yes, it’s easy to say from the outside, but I can’t really imagine that because I’ve never been in his position, so I’m the reference rider as a world champion with number one in front of the bike,” Oliveira added.
“Being there naturally makes you want to speed things up, but you can’t skip the steps.
“If you try it, you could hit some rough patches along the way.
“What I’ve learned from my own experience coming back from an injury is that you can’t simply try to skip every part of the process.”
Martin’s next comeback day remains at TBC, but Oliveira finished 20th in the Remance sprint.
He then fitted the wet tires correctly for the start before running second in the Grand Prix, but on lap 26 and 19, he was caught in the same final corner as his teammates Jack Miller and Fabio Cartararo.
“It was a surprise because I wasn’t really checking my position, but when Mark overtook me I realized I was second,” Oliveira said.
“I started math and thought, ‘I might have a good chance to score points.’ However, under these harsh conditions, there was very little grip, so reaching the finish was difficult. ”
Miguel Oliveira: Clearly why Pramac is the world champion
This year’s transition to Pramac Yamaha marked Oliveira’s third different maker after starting his career at KTM, and then spent two seasons with Aprilia.
“To be honest, since my first Test last year at Barcelona, I realized that I’m on a truly amazing team on a human level,” Oliveira said.
“The way everything is organized is incredible and it becomes very quickly clear why they are world champions (along with Martin and Ducati last year). They built a top-level team – people really make a difference – that’s why they have achieved such great results in recent years.
“What they’re trying to build with Yamaha is solid and very ambitious. You can see that Yamaha is fully committed, which gives the riders a sense of motivation and excitement for the future.
“Now we know that bikes aren’t ready to deliver the results we’re aiming for, but we’re on the upward path. We’re very motivated and truly excited about this project in the future.”
Looking forward to the UK’s MotoGP this weekend, Oliveira added: