Victory for Miguel Oliveira at Phillip Island
Red Bull KTM Ajo earned their best result of the season this Sunday at the Australian circuit of Phillip Island, thanks to a victory for Miguel Oliveira and third place for Brad Binder.
Both riders came up trumps in an intense race, in which there were many crashes and plenty of overtaking. Karel Hanika finished fourteenth, after crash when in second position. With this result, Oliveira moves up to second in the overall standings and remains in contention for the title.
Early on, the three Red Bull KTM Ajo formed part of a packed first group of 15 riders, which gradually reduced in number due to multiple crashes. With 17 laps remaining the trio occupied the top three positions, until five laps later, at Turn 4, Hanika went down.
Oliveira and Binder remained at the front in a group of six riders, defending their positions. The Portuguese clinched the win, with Binder only missing out on second place due to a slipstream.
After this great result and with two races of the season remaining, Oliveira rises to second place in the classification and lies 40 points off the lead, still in with a chance at the Moto3 World Championship. Next week the trio continue the action at the Malaysian Grand Prix.
44 MIGUEL OLIVEIRA
“The truth is it was a crazy race. On the final laps I saw that the group was not very big and I could relax a little, but I was clear that I wanted to finish first or second. Before the race I wasn’t too sure about my strategy, but I knew I wanted to go into the last lap in second and that is which I opened up at Lukey Heights to let Kornfeil pass me, looking to slipstream him on the straight.
That enabled me to start the last lap with a little gap and I was able to defend very well for the entire lap. I’m happy for my team, as this was a very important victory and we all worked hard for it.
Obviously with fifty points still up for grabs and us being forty off the top, anything is possible, although my focus is to continue as we have been doing at the two remaining races. As we saw in this race, anything can happen, and in the end you also have to have some luck. Moto3 is a class in which everyone is fighting up to the final moment, and every metre of the track counts.”
Source: Ajo