MotoGP Mugello: "Question mark" as Miguel Oliveira heads to Italy

The luckless Oliveira has suffered two sets of injuries after being taken out by another bike this season.

Ligament damage to his hip from an impact with Marc Marquez at Portimao ruled Oliveira out of Argentina, and he then missed Le Mans due to a dislocated and fractured left shoulder when he was taken down by Fabio Quartararo’s sliding M1 at Jerez.

The three-weekend break since France has provided much-needed recovery time, but Oliveira knows he won’t be 100 percent this weekend. Indeed, the five-time MotoGP race winner’s first target will be to pass a medical check on Thursday.

“I’m really, really looking forward to go to Mugello,” Oliveira said. “For sure now the biggest question mark is how I’m going to be physically able to handle a tough track like this on the MotoGP bike.

“The last few days, I felt an improvement, so hopefully that can be enough for me to arrive and be competitive. That’s the main target.

“I know that I need more experience with the bike and I need more races, but at this time it’s a priority to come back strong and at 100%.

“I will go to Mugello with that in mind and hopefully we can turn it into a good weekend. I’m looking forward to see all the team again.”

Team-mate Fernandez underwent arm pump surgery on his right arm after the Jerez test, pain from which then forced him to withdraw from Le Mans after just a handful of practice laps.

“I’m really happy to be back in Mugello. We had three weekends off, which was good for my arm. I had time to recover and time to prepare myself physically,” said the young Spaniard.

“This weekend I don’t want to expect something special. First, we have to see how my arm is working. If all is well, we will of course try to do the best and also enjoy, which is my principal goal.

“I’m curious to see if the arm will give me any trouble after these first four tricky rounds, where my arm was causing quite many problems.”

“After three weekends away, we are looking forward to Mugello, which is always a fantastic event,” said team manager Wilco Zeelenberg.

“Saying that, we obviously have to face the facts that both of our boys need to be checked medically on Thursday. Let’s see and wait for that first.

“Of course, we know that the situation has improved a lot since Le Mans. But we can only say whether they are 100% fit after the race weekend. They are recovering well, let’s hope for the best.”

RNF boss Razlan Razali admitted the rider injuries mean the upcoming run of three races in three weekends will be a real “test of strength” for the team.

“We have had glimpses of both riders at the recent Aprilia All Stars event in Misano, where Miguel tested his physical condition for one lap on the RS-GP,” Razali said. “Not at 100% still, the injury has restricted his movements and we can only fully understand the actual situation from Practice one this week.

“Still after the All Stars, he had two weeks to recover and go for specific treatment based on his feeling at this event. So, we hope he will be better this week.

“Raul is very happy with his progress. He rode both days at the Aprilia event, he had fun, no tiredness feeling in his arm. For him, it all looks positive. We approach this first of three weekends with a bit of caution and we have to wait until the first session to see how both of our riders go. Again, I’m not overly positive, but cautious.”

Oliveira finished second for KTM at the 2021 Italian MotoGP, with Fernandez runner-up in that year's Moto2 race.