Sunday, March 20, 2022, was Indonesia's moment to shine as it was the first time the Grand Prix has been held there since 1997. The race was nearly cancelled due to Mandalika's heavy rainfall, but it was back on after over an hour delay.

Representing the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, Miguel Oliviera conquered the wet conditions and came out as the victor of the first Pertamina Grand Prix. It was a dominant win remembering how the Portuguese started on P7 on Mandalika International Street Circuit.

 

 

 

 

 

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Oliviera's shining performance
Oliviera made a lightning start as he grabbed P2 early in the race. At the beginning of Lap 2, both Oliviera and Ducati Lenovo's Jack Miller rode past the reigning champion Fabio Quartararo and took the lead. From that point, Oliviera and Miller went toe to toe against each other, leaving the third rider with a 2.4s gap.

Miller, being one of the strongest riders in wet conditions, managed to take over Oliviera on Lap 2, and the lead persisted for several laps. Only at Turn 12 of Lap 6 did the KTM rider manage to carve his way past Jack Miller.

 

 

 

 

 

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Heading into the second half of the race, Oliviera had a lead of 3.5s. He performed dominantly until the last lap, which can be observed by how the 2nd rider Quartararo was 2.2s apart at the end of the race.

Miguel Oliviera finished the race with a record of 33 minutes and 27.2230 seconds. Johann Zarco from Pramac Racing secured the third spot on the podium, and Jack Miller ended up finishing fourth.

Miguel Oliviera's career
The weekend Grand Prix at Mandalika was Oliviera's fourth premier class victory. The Portuguese's maiden MotoGP win was claimed back in the 2020 season. He closed out the campaign of that same season with a win on home soil in Portugal. Before the Mandalika podium, Oliviera also secured a victory in the 2021 Catalan GP.

However, his first success happened back in 2005 and 2006, when he became the Portuguese MiniGP champion. Not stopping there, the Pragal-born rider snatched the third spot of FIM CEV Repsol in 2009.

Miguel went through four seasons of Moto3 World Championship from 2012 to 2015, and he finished second overall in the 2015 season. That achievement landed him a spot in Moto2.

Upgrading to 600cc of Moto2, Oliviera adjusted reasonably well. In 2017, the Portuguese achieved nine podium finishes, three of which were wins, and he finished third overall in the Moto2 World Championship.

Miguel Oliviera managed to up the game somehow in 2018, where he earned 12 podiums and finished the season second overall. His impressive performance then secured him a promotion to MotoGP in 2019 with the newborn Red Bull KTM Tech 3 team.