First joys at home
The second weekend of the season in Portimão presented the same, identical podium on all three races: in addition to the double win by the Aruba.it-Ducati team, with Bulega always winning ahead of Lecuona, the 3rd place was taken by former MotoGP rider Miguel Oliveira. A particularly emotional achievement for the BMW rider, who right in front of his home crowd obtained his first Superbike podium.
Read more A Portuguese on the podium: it hasn’t happened for 37 years
What ‘Petrux’ is missing
Results that, moreover, coincide with BMW’s first top 3 placements. Oliveira, in fact, had achieved two 7th places in Australia as his best result, in a weekend where his teammate, Danilo Petrucci, did not go beyond 6th place in Race 2. Called by the Bavarian manufacturer to replace Toprak Razgatlioglu for this world championship, the winner of the last two Independent Trophies now occupies eighth place in the overall standings, demonstrating how the first phase of the championship has not been entirely positive for the Umbrian rider.
Read more Official: Jonathan Rea still on track at Assen instead of Dixon
Yet, despite Oliveira’s podiums, the 35-year-old does not seem to suffer any kind of pressure, on the contrary: “I am very happy for Miguel because he gave a boost of energy to the team and above all provided us with excellent information on how to properly ride the bike – he said to the official Superbike website – these are valuable insights for the future. It is not greater pressure, it is a goal; it means for us that the bike can be competitive and that next time, maybe, I will be there too“.
