Why Miguel Oliveira’s Mugello Comeback Might Be Overambitious
Categories: MotoGP
Miguel Oliveira is set to return to MotoGP action at Mugello. However, his second comeback of the year might be a bit overambitious.
Ligament damage to his hip from an impact with Marc Marquez at Portimao ruled Miguel Oliveira out of the Argentine Grand Prix earlier this year.
After a successful recovery, the Portuguese had his eyes set on big performances for the rest of the season.
However, he was left with just one full race weekend at the Americas Grand Prix in Austin before getting taken out yet again by Fabio Quartararo.
While everything looked like a quick recovery phase at first, Oliveira did not make it to the French Grand Prix as his dislocated shoulder sustained a small fracture in the Jerez incident. He was replaced by Aprilia rider Lorenzo Savadori.
"Question Mark [But] I Need More Experience"
Three weeks later, in Mugello, Oliveira wants to return to racing once again. Now that the shoulder has had more than five weeks to recover, he is ready to hit the track on his RS-GP.
However, a full-race comeback in Mugello might be a bit overambitious for the 28-year-old as he recognizes:
“[There is a] question mark whether I’m going to be physically able to handle a tough track like this on the MotoGP bike.”
As the season continued without him for the most part, the Portuguese fears he could be outrun experience-wise by the other MotoGP stars.
While most of the riders on new bikes have gone the full length of the 2023 season so far, Oliveira participated in just half of the season’s sessions.
“I know that I need more experience with the bike and I need more races, but at the moment it’s a priority to come back strong and at 100%.”
“I will go to Mugello with that in mind and hopefully we can turn it into a good weekend. I’m looking forward to seeing all the team again.”
Especially the last few days have been extra motivating for Oliveira as he and his shoulder are creeping back to 100%.
“The last few days, I felt an improvement, so hopefully that can be enough for me to arrive and be competitive. That’s the main target.”
