Oliveira: 'A matter of time for Gardner, Fernandez to be fast or faster than us'

Triple KTM MotoGP race winner Miguel Oliveira says it is 'just a matter of time' before Tech3 rookies Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez are 'as fast or faster than us'.

While the factory Red Bull team is unchanged for 2022 with Oliveira alongside Brad Binder, it's an all-new look for Tech3 with the arrival of Gardner and Fernandez, first and second respectively in last year's Moto2 World Championship.

"For sure it's just a matter of time and they will be as fast or faster than us," Oliveira said. "This is normal. They are two strong riders. The strongest KTM could get from the middle class, first and second in the championship."

The Portuguese added that he expects Fernandez, who took eight race victories during his single season in Moto2, to be one the pace from round one in Qatar.

"We see that Raul… can get to the limit more easily and for sure he will be fast from the beginning of the championship," Oliveira said.

"I think it's quite nice for all of us to have this speed because the faster everyone is, the more we can learn from each other and I only see positives.

"Hopefully they will add more pressure to us and they make us go faster."

Fernandez and Gardner will be on track for the Sepang Shakedown test, which starts on Monday, before joining the full 2022 line-up in the official test on February 5-6.