Miguel Oliveira takes seventh in thrilling Aragon GP

Mahindra team rider Miguel Oliveira showed all his maturity and skill in a desperately difficult Aragon GP today moving through from 20th on the grid to a strong seventh position, beating Brad Binder’s customer MGP3O over the line to put two of the Mahindra machines in the top ten.

The Moto3™ race, over 20 laps of the fine 5.078-km Motorland Aragon Circuit, was run in particularly trying conditions after a misty and rainy start to the day caused a delay of almost half an hour.

By the time the race did get underway there was a narrow dry line on an otherwise damp circuit, conditions that caught many riders out with wildly changing fortunes for several fancied runners.

Oliveira conquered not only the conditions but also a problem with his vision after his visor fogged up because of a blocked helmet vent. Unable to see clearly to find his braking points he was forced to slow down to open his visor slightly for the rest of the race. It cost him four seconds and the chance to move even further up the order.

Miguel Oliveira – seventh position
“With that qualifying position and these conditions, it was the best I could do. I just wanted to finish the race and I managed to do that. I was pretty comfortable at the end of the race. I knew I couldn’t reach out to catch the front guys, but I was matching the lap times with the front, that was positive. It was really disappointing qualifying so badly, so seventh place is not so bad.”

Source: Mahindra Racing