Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Miguel Oliveira rode brilliantly in Great Britain for the twelfth date of twenty in 2022 and for what was KTM’s 100th MotoGP start. The Portuguese equaled the brand’s best result at Silverstone with 6th position as teammate Brad Binder took 11th.
MotoGP fired to 20 intense laps at a sunny Silverstone for the Monster Energy British Grand Prix and with KTM RC16s starting from the fifth, sixth and eighth rows of the grid. The rapid and long 18-corner course was a wide, technical challenge for the riders and created a 12-rider strong group pushing for podium contention.
Oliveira looked quick through Free Practice and missed out on direct Q2 qualification by just a few hundredths of a second but had decent race pace and showed it. Miguel circulated initially on the edge of the top ten with Brad Binder in tow but then started to overtake and make progress, eventually passing world championship leader Fabio Quartararo for a well-earned 6th place. Binder, who started alongside Oliveira on the grid, was also making gains on the lap chart but the medium rear tire choice on the hottest day of the Silverstone weekend so far ultimately dented his competitiveness and he crossed the line in 11th; just 7 seconds behind winner Francesco Bagnaia.
The Tech3 KTM Factory Racing Team watched rookies Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez round the Silverstone asphalt for the first time in the premier class. The Australian reached as high as 14th in the opening half of the 118km distance but ebbed back to 18th as the grip on his medium rear tire dropped. Fernandez finished just outside the top twenty in 21st.
Binder is the highest-ranked rider in the MotoGP points table in 7th but Oliveira is close in 10th.
The twelfth Grand Prix at Silverstone since the venue became the host of the British round once more in 2010 was also the scene of KTM’s 100th MotoGP start. Since the first wildcard appearance in the final event of 2016 and the Gran Premio Motul de la Comunitat Valenciana the MotoGP project has accumulated six wins (at least one for the last three seasons) and a total of 15 podiums thanks to three of the 11 riders in total who have raced the KTM RC16.
Grand Prix #101 will happen on home territory with the CryptoDATA Motorrad Grand Prix von Österreich taking place at the Red Bull Ring in two weeks.
Miguel Oliveira: “A good race and I had fun. There was the potential to be a bit further up the ranking but starting from the fifth row is always challenging. I’m happy to have had a solid weekend: all the sessions were decent. We made a few overtaking moves and that also helped for confidence. Hopefully we can improve and do a bit better in Austria.”
Brad Binder: “All weekend we had quite good pace on race rubber but in qualifying we keep trying to make a competitive lap-time to be a bit further up. I had a really good start today but unfortunately in Turn 5 I had a bit of contact and lost five positions. It put me off the back of the front group and although I caught up again I made a massive mistake with my tire choice. I paid for it because I had large drop in the last laps. Sorry to my team because we could have definitely done something good today. A big learning experience for us.”
Remy Gardner: “I made a decent start and went with the group. It was fun. I was enjoying myself but from about lap ten the rear tire really dropped and the last six laps was about survival. There was no edge grip and it was costing me a couple of seconds a lap. We didn’t try the hard tire over the weekend and that was a mistake. It might have given us a better result. The gap to the front was the closest it has been all year, even with those last six-seven laps so the pace was pretty good.
Raul Fernandez: “A tough race and I was trying to find my confidence this weekend. I made a few mistakes trying to get my feeling and improve for the next races. I was getting information today. The team and I did all we could but we know this is not our position. We’ll continue to try and improve.”
Francesco Guidotti, Red Bull KTM Team Manager: “A good result overall but once again it could be better if it wasn’t for qualifying. We started from the fifth row and after the first laps we had a two second gap from the leader and finished the race 2.7 from the winner. We only lost 0.7 over twenty laps and that makes us happy for the future but, for sure, we have to improve our Saturdays. It’s a shame to miss the chance of a podium for this. Brad could have had a great race because he was really on the move but the rear tire choice was perhaps a mistake. Overall, a good weekend. We had decent race pace from Friday morning. If we can sort qualification then it looks like everything is growing.”
Results MotoGP Monster Energy British Grand Prix
1. Francesco Bagnaia (ITA), Ducati 40:10.260
2. Maverick Viñales (ESP) Aprilia +0.426
3. Jack Miller (AUS), Ducati +0.614
4. Enea Bastianini (ITA), Ducati +1.651
5. Jorge Martin (ESP) Ducati +1.750
6. Miguel Oliveira (POR), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +2.727
11. Brad Binder (RSA), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +7.730
18. Remy Gardner (AUS), Tech3 KTM Factory Racing +24.579
21. Raul Fernandez (ESP), Tech3 KTM Factory Racing +35.601