Miguel Oliveira was among the standout performers of the Portimão weekend, taking the BMW to the podium three times in a row. On the other side of the garage, however, Danilo Petrucci was forced to play catch-up, watching his teammate from afar.
On Sunday, at the end of Race 2, Petrux had nothing but kind words for the Portuguese rider, revealing some behind-the-scenes details. “Miguel is a really great guy,” he commented. “After the Superpole Race, he came up to me and told me not to give up. In fact, we shared data and information to help each other out. Personally, it’s pretty rare to have a teammate like him, who reaches out to you in tough times and is willing to help you out. I can’t help but be grateful and appreciative of the person he is.”
He also couldn’t resist a comment about the crowd.“It was incredible to see all those people here for him.There was so much warmth from the fans, and I was really surprised by it all. It was a beautiful spectacle for Superbike in Portimao,” he concluded.
According to figures released by Dorna at the end of the weekend, a total of 81,000 fans were present at the Portimão circuit over the weekend. For this category of racing, this is the highest number ever recorded since the Superbike raced at Buriram in Thailand, in 2015.