By Melody Gross 
The Portuguese’s comments after winning the second race of the MotoGP World Cup season.
Portugal’s Miguel Oliveira admitted that the MotoGP Indonesia Grand Prix start, from seventh to second, was crucial to his fourth MotoGP win.
“If it wasn’t for this good start, the race would have been different for me, because behind the other riders you can’t see anything because of the rain or because of the splashing on the track,” explained Miguel Oliveira.
After a delay of 1 hour and 15 minutes, Miguel Oliveira started 20 races of the short race due to rain, from seventh place and added his fourth victory in the class, in 33.27.223 minutes, ahead of Frenchman Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha). ), the current world champion, and Johann Zarco (Ducati) finished second and third at 2.205 and 3.158 seconds, respectively.
“The grip on the track was difficult to understand, but after a few laps I realized I could give more, even though it is very difficult to race in these conditions, because practically you have the time and you can manage the tyres. Fortunately, I did really well, I followed Jack. [Miller] And I realized I had to.”
After noticing water problems on the tracks of Italian Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) and Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati), in the first corner, Oliveira advanced in the race, until Australian Jack Miller (Ducati) took the lead, with the Portuguese in anticipation: “I found a gap and overcame it.”
However, Miguel Oliveira admitted that he would find it difficult to maintain the lead if the race continued for much longer. “If there were seven more laps, I don’t know what would have happened. Fabio [Quartararo] I was very strong, in pursuit of it, but fortunately I was able to get back on the podium and win,” the KTM rider stressed.
With this victory, and the first 25 points in 2022, the Almada rider ascended to fourth place in the riders’ standings, five points behind Italian Inna Bastianini (Ducati), who did not exceed eleventh place today. South African Brad Bender, Oliveira’s KTM teammate, is second with 28 points, followed by Quartararo in third with 27 points.
“There were only two races, but obviously we want to continue that strong in the next races. We don’t just want good rankings in two or three races. There is a lot of competition, as we saw in the second quarter. We are focused around speed and getting good results in races.”
The next stage of the MotoGP World Cup is scheduled for April 3, with the Argentine Grand Prix at Termas de Rio Hondo.