The changes Miguel Oliveira made to get Hungarian WorldSBK podium

Miguel Oliveira was able to turn his Hungarian WorldSBK weekend around overnight, finishing on the podium in Race 1 after ending FP2 in ninth.

Oliveira was out-paced by seven Ducatis on Friday as well as Bimota’s Alex Lowes, but he was able to find himself on the second row after Superpole and converted that to his fourth podium in World Superbike in Race 1.

The BMW rider explained afterwards that he had made some bike changes overnight to worked from FP3.

“We made some electronic changes, nothing big,” Miguel Oliveira said, speaking to WorldSBK.com after Race 1.

“It was quite clear where I was losing out and we tried to work on that this morning, even if the conditions were a bit hot and it wasn’t as easy in FP3 to repeat the lap time. 

“I managed to improve a little bit more and had the potential to go a bit faster, which is nice. We kept that for the race, and it was an important race to get some data for tomorrow.”

Oliveira’s podium came after a second-row qualifying but also a start that saw him pushed out wide by Yari Montella, who he spent half the race trying to pass.

“We made a good step in Superpole,” he said. “We didn’t put the whole lap together and with the yellow flags we didn’t optimise what was left in the bike. 

“Beginning on the second row is a good starting place and I made a good start. 

“I was out-braked by Yari [Montella] which made me lose a lot of time. I was just not fast enough to stay close and overtake. Even with the mistakes he was making, I wasn’t able to overtake him. 

“It was difficult but I managed to secure P3, managed to build a gap behind me and trying to control the gap, getting into my own pace and see what I could do.”

Looking to tomorrow, Oliveira added that it will be difficult to improve on third during Sunday’s two World Superbike races, given he was over 10 seconds behind the factory Ducatis at the front in Race 1.

“It’s going to be difficult tomorrow,” he said. “We have a 10- or 12-second gap, but we’ll give our best to try to reduce it. 

“We’ll see about the position, but if I can fight again for the podium twice tomorrow, I’ll leave Balaton Park happy.”