In a breathtaking and spectacular Grand Prix of Styria Red Bull KTM Tech3 rider Miguel Oliveira brought home a stunning first victory today at the Red Bull Ring. Iker Lecuona reached the top 10 again following a strong two parted race.
Starting from seventh on the grid Oliveira showed a steady race sticking in seventh position until the red flag came out. At the restart with 12 laps to go he got off the line incredibly, getting in fourth and fighting his way through to third position. While Pol Espargaro and Jack Miller were fighting it out for the win, Oliveira snatched through and wrote history with the first ever Portuguese win in the premier class and the first one for Red Bull KTM Tech3.
Lecuona in the meantime started from P12 but made up two positions quickly. When he had to return to the garage due to the race interruption, he was in ninth. At the restart he fought hard to stay inside the top 10 and eventually made it over the line in 10th position.
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Miguel Oliveira
Position: 1st
Championship: 9th
Points: 43
"First of all, I was making sure, it was the last lap. During the whole race, I couldn’t see where my pit board was, so I actually didn’t know if the fourth was really close to me or not, so I was just fully focused on the front. When I came around on the final lap, I saw that Pol started to keep a quite defensive line and I thought they could both lose a lot of time, so I could take advantage of that. In the last corner, I let them both fight and just went to the inside. When I saw the chequered flag and no one around, it was just pure joy! I’m very happy to give this team their first victory. It’s such a great group of human beings, very professional guys all around and they really deserve it. We deserve this win from all the struggles we have been through since last year. Coming into this season with a lot of potential, but for some reason or another, we couldn’t quite make it and finally, I’m happy to be one of those guys, who give this trophy to the team."
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Iker Lecuona
Position: 10th
Championship: 17th
Points: 13
"For sure, I’m really happy. I finished in the top 10 again. Today it was not the ninth, but 10th, which is great. This morning, I struggled a bit in Warm Up, but I knew I have a strong pace with new tyres, so I felt strong for the race. In the first race, I overtook many riders, I had a very good pace, I was in ninth position. The best for me was to pass Rossi, because he was always my idol. This moment was very important for me. In the second part of the race, my start was not great, I lost some positions, but I came back, stayed in 10th position and was having some great fights. Finally, I finished inside the top 10 again. I’m really happy. Thank you to my team for sure! Thank you to KTM for the opportunity and congrats to KTM for Pol (Espargaro) and obviously to my teammate Miguel, because he got this great victory!"
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Hervé Poncharal
Team Manager
"What an incredible day, incredible emotions! It is something like 40 years we’ve been in this business and we never won a MotoGP race. Honestly, I thought that was never going to happen and today our dream came true. Here in Austria, which is in front of our title sponsor Red Bull, in front of the KTM management, our manufacturer. To be honest, this morning, I was so down when I saw my two Moto3 riders, who collided, when they were on course for a podium and I thought maybe it’s time for me to retire, because when you are deeply involved, I was really, really sad about that. And now I’m almost the happiest man in the world. Only racing can give you these up and down emotions. I would like to of course thank Red Bull, thank KTM, without who it would have been impossible. I would like also to dedicate this victory to Miguel, because he has been pushing a lot. Year one was not easy, he was injured the second half of the season. We’ve been fast since the beginning of this year, the bike improved, he improved, but we could never really show it due to some racing circumstances and I knew he could do it. Now we’ve done it. I’m very proud to see two KTM on the rostrum. Clearly, this is now one of the bikes to beat. We’ve done an incredible job with the factory, the engineers, the test team with Dani Pedrosa, for sure to have four riders helped a lot and of course I would like to thank Stefan Pierer, Hubert Trunkenpolz, Pit Beirer, Mike Leitner, Jens Hainbach, without who it would have been impossible. It’s not only the fact that we won, we won with these people behind us and this is an incredible group. I have been working with different manufacturers, but this one is more than special. They said they are ready to race and this is not only a slogan, but the reality. There is such a big involvement, such a passion for racing and this is contagious, so let’s celebrate tonight, let’s hope there will be some other exciting days like today, but today I want to thank Miguel, Iker, who did a great race, too. I want to congratulate him as well, because it’s also unbelievable, what he has done so far as a rookie. He is growing like I didn’t expect. Thank you to the whole crew, to the entire teams, Moto3, communication department, thank you everybody! We go home to have a rest and fully motivated to do something great in Italy."
