“Happiness” at BMW but Miguel Oliveira unsatisfied after first WorldSBK podiums

Although he feels his BMW team is happy with his WorldSBK podiums in Portugal, Miguel Oliveira is unsatisfied with third place.

Oliveira’s second weekend in World Superbike was much more successful than his first, which was conditioned by a crash in Superpole in Australia that ultimately meant he started all three races from the back of the grid.

In Portugal, Oliveira qualified on the second row and finished third in all three races. They were his first WorldSBK podiums, but that doesn’t mean the Portuguese rider was completely satisfied with his performance.

“It was a third place kind of weekend, which is okay,” Miguel Oliveira told WorldSBK.com.

“Coming in I knew it was going to be difficult to fight the guys, but we managed to be consistent and bring these three podiums that are important to at least solidify and reward the work we’ve been doing with the team. 

“I know it’s only the second round and we don’t want to come in third place, so I feel there is some happiness [in the team], but at the same time we want to achieve more. It’s not any kind of pressure, but we know where we want to go. 

“Still many opportunities, many races to come, so I’m looking forward to keep learning and keep getting the best out of the bike and myself, and we go onto a new track for me and BMW together, so hopefully we get up to speed on Friday and get a good job done.”

Oliveira added that it is nonetheless important to appreciate the positive side of the Portugal weekend.

“Better is three seconds or three first places,” he said. 

“For sure we have to keep the coin on the positive side. The weekend has been super-solid already since Saturday morning. 

“It’s true that today I struggled much more, especially because I used too much the front tyre. 

“The conditions were slightly different, so I had to push a little bit more the front, but it was enough to defend from Alex [Lowes] and bring home another third place.”

Assen is next on the calendar and is a circuit that BMW notoriously struggled at last year, with Toprak Razgatlioglu unable to finish on the podium in either of the long races.

But Oliveira doesn’t believe there is any reason to be concerned for BMW’s prospects there this year.

“On paper there’s nothing standing out in terms of a big reason why we cannot be competitive,” he said.

“But we keep our feet on the ground, we know we have some work to do, and we will start working [from] Friday to turn it into a positive weekend.”