Miguel Oliveira says a wind gust caused him to crash heavily at 186.4mph into Turn 1 at Phillip Island during MotoGP Australian Grand Prix FP4 on Saturday.
There was heavy wind at the Phillip Island circuit throughout all of Saturday, which limited running to a bare minimum in FP3, with only 12 riders setting a laptime.
Conditions failed to improve for FP4 – which ultimately led to qualifying being postponed to Sunday – and Oliveira suffered a heavy crash at on the run into the fast Doohan righ-hander when he was pushed onto the grass by a wind gust.
? @_moliveira88 has a high speed crash at Doohan corner!
The @Tech3Racing rider is conscious and being helped away on a stretcher ?#AustralianGP ?? pic.twitter.com/LOpKexin8J
— MotoGP™ ?? (@MotoGP) October 26, 2019
The Tech3 rookie was taken away on a stretcher to the medical centre but checks revealed he escaped the high-speed crash without any broken bones.
“I was slipstreaming [Johann] Zarco and at that point I was a little bit more close to the left side of the track,” he said.
“From the morning to the afternoon the wind just completely changed the way [it was blowing] and it was really sideways going onto the straight.
“I rolled off to let Johann pass and when I braked, I braked completely sideways and the wind just pushed me out of track. After that, nothing else to add.”
Although he escaped the crash without any serious injuries, Oliveira hasn’t been declared fit to race yet, and he will need to pass a medical test on Sunday morning.
“In the medical centre, at first they checked me and they see nothing was broken in my hands, but they did not declare me fit.
“I need to pass [a medical] tomorrow to see if I can close my hands to ride. The rest is fine, the shoulder seems a little bit painful also.
“I just need to wake up tomorrow and hope for the best.”
Rossi: Unpredictable wind “very aggressive”
Rossi added that the wind was “very aggressive” and “difficult to predict” and that Turn 1, where Oliveira crash, was just one of the numerous places on track which were dangerous.
“Last corner, and all the front straight where Oliveira crash, [were affected by] crosswinds, [but] not always. Gusts.
“You arrive at very high speed and you don’t know what happens. Also Turn 3 was dangerous.
“The problem is that the wind is too strong and also is difficult to predict because is not constant. It is very aggressive.”