The story between Miguel Oliveira and KTM came to an end following seven seasons and many successes in the various categories. Forced to give way to Jack Miller in the official team, the Portuguese did not wish to find Tech3, the manufacturer’s satellite team with which he had started in MotoGP in 2019. If the situation seemed to be tense during the season, Oliveira assures us that it is simply opposing points of view which might no longer be agreed.
“I wouldn’t say that KTM behaved badly with me, not at all”he said to the Portuguese channel Antena. “We just had different ways of thinking. The restructuring of the team went hand in hand with the desire to have another driver than me. These differences naturally put distance between us and we had no future together.”
The Austrian brand did not manage to convince Oliveira to stay with it, at Tech3 (allied with GasGas), where a factory bike was waiting for him, in addition to a substantial financial offer and a contract over several seasons. A project that did not know how to touch the #88, which considered to have reached the end of its path with KTM.
“It’s not that the door wasn’t open because they really wanted me to stay and ride for [l’équipe] GasGas, which is clearly a red painted KTM. The idea was to bring back the GasGas brand and to have a duo of Iberian pilots because the brand is Iberian. They wanted a Spanish driver and a Portuguese driver, but I was not a big fan of the idea. I sincerely believe that there are times in our lives when we need change. There are trains that only pass once and you have to seize these opportunities. I really wanted to have this change and get out of my comfort zone.”
Miguel Oliveira on the RS-GP during the Valencia test last November.
This change will therefore come from RNF, who joins Aprilia this season, and with whom he is regarding to open a new page in his career. Already fast in the first winter test held in Valencia last November, Oliveira seemed to adapt very quickly to RS-GP and wants to believe in his title dream, which had somewhat receded in recent years.
“KTM gave me a lot of comfort for my career. I had the next four years of my life guaranteed, but deep down I knew that was not what I wanted. I wanted to experience new opportunities and to actually be World Champion, and I believe that will happen soon”, he confided.
The Portuguese has indeed been a contender for the title on several occasions in Moto3 and Moto2 and has twice finished Vice-Champion, in addition to counting 12 victories in these categories. Despite his five successes in MotoGP with KTM, which make him the brand’s most successful rider in the premier class, he only holds ninth place as the best result in the general classification, and therefore wishes to remedy this within his new structure.