Portuguese rider finishes in the Top 5 on the first day of the San Marino GP, just two tenths off the fastest rider. Teammate Brad Binder places 16th on his first day riding at Misano with a Moto2 machine.

The thirteenth round of the Moto2 World Championship began well for the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 team. Miguel Oliveira continued in great form, placing fifth on the combined timesheets for the two Free Practice sessions held on Friday. Teammate Brad Binder took strides forward with every lap, to end the day in sixteenth place.

In FP1, Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder followed different strategies. While the South African -whose best lap was a 1:39.589- chose to make a single pit stop to put in as many laps as possible in his debut outing with the Moto2 at Misano, Oliveira made two trips back to the garage. The second such occasion was to fit new tyres, and he subsequently set a time of 1:39.029 that placed him tenth.

In the afternoon session, both riders repeated their tactics and lowered their FP1 times already on their first stint. Oliveira showed once again that his best feeling comes with used tyres, and on his second stint he ran his best pace for a 1:38.342 lap that put him fifth. Binder waited until his penultimate lap to make a push, setting a 1:38.915 lap on fresh tyres for sixteenth.
Qualifying for the Moto2 San Marino GP takes place tomorrow from 3:10pm local time.

Results (Combined practice times FP1-FP2)
1. Mattia Pasini (Kalex) 1:38.061
2. Franco Morbidelli (Kalex) 1:38.126 +0.065
3. Takaaki Nakagami (Kalex) 1:38.302 +0.241
4. Dominique Aegerter (Kalex) 1:38.326 +0.265
5. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:38.342 +0.281
16. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:38.915 +0.854

41 BRAD BINDER
“At first it was a bit difficult to adapt to the Moto2 bike at this circuit. I had to work hard to find the right lines, but overall the day went well. At the end of FP2 I felt much better, and I began to find my way. Tomorrow we have to improve some things and we can take a step forward; I feel ready for that. I’m having more problems with new tyres than with the used ones, something that -depending on how you look at it- could be positive in terms of the race, but we will try to improve in any case. We have to keep working a little more on the bike tomorrow and see where we end up in QP. It’s important to get a good position that will allow us to fight as high up the order as possible on Sunday.”

44 MIGUEL OLIVEIRA
“I wasn’t comfortable with the bike this morning during FP1, the track was a little slippery and I didn’t feel good. The temperature rose for the second session and we were able to do a good job; we made some changes to the bike that have turned out to be quite positive. We have also tried out some new tyres on our last stint, and to be honest it is still something we need to improve. We’re working on it. Tomorrow it will be important to get on one of the front two rows; we will try our best.”