MotoGP Buriram: ‘Jack kept me in attack mode’ - Oliveira

Red Bull KTM’s Miguel Oliveira claimed his second victory of the season on Sunday after bettering Ducati’s Jack Miller at the halfway stage.

His fifth win in the premier class, Oliveira tackled the challenging conditions as rain struck the Chang International Circuit in Buriram in time for the 25-lap race. With the action delayed by an hour, the MotoGP grid experienced its first taste of the Thai track in wet conditions since 2019 after running in the dry across the entire weekend.

“It was definitely a difficult race,” Oliveira admitted from the Thai paddock after claiming the victory by almost a second from Miller. “From I think the mental point of view every wet race is difficult because a mistake costs you quite a lot and you can crash so I was definitely comfortable but not too comfortable at the same time.

“I think Jack also put a lot of pressure and pulled away in the beginning of the race and made me be always in attack mode until the last lap and I think that was good because I could never be relaxed.

“The beginning of the race was hard for all of us because we couldn’t see that much in the main straights and there was a little bit of aquaplaning. But yeah, it was a nice one, can’t complain of winning on the wet again.

“I think Jack was much better than me on brakes,” he continued on his main race rival and the rider replacing him in the KTM factory team next season. “Especially turns one and three, he definitely was a bit faster but I could catch back since turn seven onwards but catch back quite a lot and I was surprised by that.

“I think just the pure drive I had was a little bit better and I could be close enough to him to think about overtake. When I tried it the first time it didn’t work and then I just hold