Miguel Oliveira has revealed that a short circuit caused him to lose control of his Aprilia MotoGP bike and break his wrist in practice at Mandalika.
Trackhouse rider Oliveira was taking part in FP1 at the Indonesian GP, a race he had won in 2022 with KTM, when he was thrown off his Aprilia RS-GP at the sequence of left-handers at Turn 3-4.
The Portuguese suffered a fracture on his right wrist as a result of the fall and had to be operated on in a hospital in Lisbon immediately after the weekend.
The timing of the injury was particularly costly, as it forced him to miss the remainder of the Indonesia round as well as the following four races in Asia and Oceania.
Now, speaking after the season, the 29-year-old has explained that an electronics issue was the root cause of the scary highside that impacted his final year with Trackhouse.
"The crash was due to bad luck: there was a short circuit in the bike's control unit,” he said during a sponsor event. “This made me lose all control systems and I fell on the handlebars.
“When you have a crash like that, injuries are always a matter of luck. It's a very complicated type of crash. You can be unlucky if you hit the handlebars or land too hard on the asphalt.
“However, I quickly returned home and had surgery, then everything went well. Now I'm in perfect shape."
Having missed the entire Asia/Australia leg, Oliveira was able to return to a MotoGP bike in the final round of the season in Barcelona, finishing 12th in the race.
He admitted that the injury layoff was hurtful, as a series of rapid-fire events meant he ended up missing more races than he would have liked.
"The recovery was on schedule, about six weeks,” he said. “The problem is that I missed five races in a row.
“It seemed like a longer period, but in reality it was short. The fact is that I had to watch five races from home.”
Oliveira had joined Aprilia’s satellite team, then operated by RNF Racing, in 2023 after a long stint at KTM during which he won five grands prix.
However, his stint at RNF/Trackhouse proved to be tough, as he failed to breach the podium spots during his two seasons with the team.
Having missed a quarter of the season due to the Mandalika injury, he ended up 15th in the championship this year, just ahead of team-mate Raul Fernandez.
Summing up his time at Aprilia, Oliveria said: "These were two years in which I struggled a lot, both technically and physically. They were two difficult years in my MotoGP career, but I think this, in the end, will make me a stronger and more complete rider.
“I was able to adapt to a very different environment from what I was used to and I also made some steps forward in my riding style, so I think it's something positive for my future."
Oliveira will move to the Yamaha-supported Pramac team in 2025, joining another ex-KTM rider Jack Miller.
