Miguel Oliveira: “I feel super sorry for Fabio about the incident”

Miguel Oliveira “felt super sorry” for Fabio Quartararo after the Mugello MotoGP Sprint race clash that left them both in the gravel trap on lap 2.

The Trackhouse Aprilia rider lost early ground when his ride-height device failed to disengage at turn one.

While trying to hastily regain places, he then made contact with Quartararo, who was 14th at the end of lap one, at Turn 10, Scarperia.

“It was really unfortunate. For sure I didn’t want to crash with anyone and I feel super sorry for Fabio (Quartararo) about the incident,” said Oliveira.

“I committed at the braking point and couldn’t decelerate any more so, at that point, I just thought to try and make the corner.

“I did make the corner, but just too fast and so had a small contact with Fabio. He saw me and tried to avoid me, but we crashed, which was really unfortunate.”

The FIM Stewards declared it a racing incident and Quartararo - although unhappy that he was penalised for a similar mistake with Aleix Espargaro at Assen 2022, then for bringing down Oliveira at the start of the 2023 Spanish GP - accepted “these things can happen”.

“For me, it was the consequence of a bad start,” added Oliveira, who lined up eleventh on the grid.

“I couldn’t get my holeshot device disengaged in the first corner and went until turn six with the device still down, got touched by everyone and went backwards, which was bad.

“After that, I immediately tried to overtake, but then crashed while attempting to recover.”

Trackhouse team manager Wilco Zeelenberg didn’t blame Oliveira for trying.

“Miguel struggled to unlock his front device after the start, had some collisions and therefore lost a couple of places,” said the Dutchman.

“The bike felt OK and he was obviously pushing to fight back and gain positions but made a mistake - braked late and deep, lost the front and hit Fabio.

“He is sorry for that and while, of course, not on purpose but you need to try things in these Sprint races, otherwise you’re already lost.”

Team-mate Raul Fernandez, who joined Oliveira in Qualifying 2, finished in tenth place, having studied the factory Aprilia of Aleix Espargaro just ahead.

“I tried to overtake Aleix, but it wouldn’t have been a clean move, so I thought I better stay behind him and learn from the bike and about the circuit,” Fernandez said.

“I prefer to understand and improve myself before pulling a big move. Overall, I’m very happy though and we have to see what happens tomorrow.”