Oliveira says onus is on the riders to make new Red Bull Ring chicane 'work'
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Oliveira, who treats the Austrian Grand Prix as a second home round due to his ties with KTM, acknowledged that making the approach to turn three slower was very much needed, although one which wasn’t easy to accomplish. It’s for that reason that riders have the responsibility to adapt and make sure its changes work according to the Portuguese rider. FP3 dropped from new Saturday schedule for Argentina MotoGPTakaaki Nakagami tests negative, heads to Argentina!Could two-day weekends be the future? ‘Not better for the sport’ – Johann Zarco”I think the direction of the change was what the riders requested,” said Oliveira. “We wanted to make the arrival to turn three much slower and with the chicane there is no better way to slow down a bike. “I think the changes went in the direction the rider requested. I think the track made an excellent effort to accomplish that. Related Quartararo: Working window ‘really small’ for Yamaha, ‘pushing’ too much? Aragon WorldSBK: Michael Van Der Mark in race against time to be fit”To build and then change is not that easy, and with that track being surrounded by so much nature and still managing to have a good run-off area was not an easy compromise. “We will all ride and I think it will take all of us to make that solution work because to put in all that work, just to use the old version would be a waste of time.”Of course, riders should be getting ready to take part in FP3 at the Argentina MotoGP, but following freight delays on Thursday, and more schedule changes being announced on Friday, the first ArgentinaGP since 2019 will now get underway with an extended hour-long FP1 later today. Related Could two-day MotoGP weekends be the future? ‘Not better for the sport’ – Zarco WorldSBK confirm Phillip Island will host 2022 season finaleThat will then be followed by another hour-long FP2, before qualifying takes place in its normal form.Despite the changed schedule, the KTM rider believes a good weekend can be achieved by the team, who currently lead the constructors world championship. “43031045.0008.jpg Oliveira added: “The weekend can go very well. The bike in 2019 was not the best version, not even close to the bike we have now and we were mid-field competitive which was good at that time. “Now we can aim to challenge for higher positions. There is no reason not to think we can be competitive.”Can Oliveira add consistency to his game?While Oliveira is the rider most in form thanks to his Mandalika race win, consistency issues dating back to early 2021 continue to hamper the four-time premier class race winner. Having started with a no-score in Qatar, avoiding such a result or even a low points scoring finish this weekend is crucial for the 27 year-old if he’s to become a serious title contender. “5Like the season-opener, KTM are yet to claim a podium at the Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit, however, with a much improved RC16 package, odds are, both himself and team-mate Brad Binder can continue their impressive start to 2022.3014140.0008.jpg Ahead of the 2022 season the former 2018 Moto2 runner-up said he was too ‘spkiy’ in 2021, and although his start to this year has done little to change that, qualifying is where he believes that problem can be addressed the most.”Spiky is already what my season looks like. I started the season with a zero and then a win,” claimed Oliveira. “That’s not really what I aimed for. But, a win is a win and I’ll take that any day. “I think it starts with the qualifying. I started the Mandalika GP with the aim of qualifying better and I will start the Argentina GP with the same mentality. “6”We need to be better in qualifying and I need to improve. That’s my main target.”
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