Miguel Oliveira and Miguel Praia, pilots of the Portuguese team Parkalgar Racing, are today in the first day of training together with all the other teams present in the 12 Hours of Portimão, which since yesterday began to settle in the paddock of the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve .
At the start of a week that promises to be very special for both, Miguel Oliveira and Miguel Praia were in Lisbon yesterday at a final press conference, before heading to the Algarve, where today they begin their 12 Hour Operation, with a view to participating in the second round of the World Endurance Championship, where, riding a Yamaha R1, prepared by Yamaha YART – the Austrian division of the Japanese manufacturer –, want to discuss the first position in the Portuguese competition of the 2016 calendar of the specialty.
Despite the absence of the third member of the Parkalgar Racing Team team, Frenchman Matthieu Lussiana, who arrived in Portugal yesterday, mid-afternoon, the two Portuguese revealed what will be the most complicated part of this project that brings Parkalgar back to the tracks.
“I think the big difficulty will be the fact that we, riders who are used to sprint races, have to do around six races within the same race – with 12 hours duration –. This makes everything very interesting in the sense that we will have to adapt to an endurance race – and fortunately we have Matthieu's experience to help us understand how to face this challenge”, said Miguel Praia.
For his part, the star of the Algarve team, Miguel Oliveira, is clearly at a high point in his career, as shown by his eighth place in Montmeló (Barcelona) in the seventh race of the Moto2 world championship.
Hence Praia has admitted that, “unlike me, Miguel and even Matthieu are at the peak of form and speed, as I have not competed since the end of 2015 and for me it has been a race against time to try to recover the reflexes, the speed, the automatisms typical of a pilot”.
“But this is an excellent opportunity to have a kind of national team on the same bike, not least because the third rider even speaks Portuguese. We want to win for Portugal and win for us”, guaranteed Miguel Praia.
Miguel Oliveira, for his part, also spoke about the attractiveness of driving in Portimão, a very demanding circuit from a physical point of view, and also about how he will face a race that is completely different from those he has run throughout his career.
“There are several difficulties: the circuit has a lot of hard braking and demands a lot of the physique in that aspect. At the same time, it has many curves blind and all of this, together with physical and psychological fatigue, will make the hurdle even greater. The track also has some bumps and the decrease in tire grip will make driving even more demanding, but all together it will make the race even more interesting, with many details that will be very important”, explained the one who is the best driver Portuguese as always, in world motorcycling.
"I'm really looking forward to finding out what it's like, because it's a kind of tempo I'm not used to and I'm going to have to to calm down a little to get into mode endurance”, added Miguel Oliveira.
The second race of the World Endurance Championship, the 12 Hours of Portimão, takes place on the 10th and 11th of June at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, in Portimão. In addition to the emotions of the race itself - with emphasis on the trio of drivers from the Portuguese Parkalgar Racing Team, captained by Miguel Oliveira -, the organization promises Fun for the whole family.
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