Mahindra rider Miguel Oliveira showed fighting spirit at the Moto3 Grand Prix of the Americas to emerge from a multi-bike first corner melee -- that eliminated teammate Arthur Sissis -- to fightback from the back of the field to finish 15th and score the last championship point.
The 19-year-old got into the early tangle Sunday after qualifying 18th. He was delayed further when another rider crashed in front of him later in the lap. The Portuguese finished the first lap down at 29th with only two riders behind in the second round of the season.
Oliveira was soon picking off rivals at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA). Although, hopes of repeating his top-4 finish at Round 1 were gone, he didn't give up and was in a tight three-bike group fighting for the last points till the end.
"The race was really difficult because I was so unlucky on the Lap 1. I got taken out twice -- in the first corner and again after the back straight when another crashed in front of me," said Oliveira.
"I was almost last and had to recover a lot of time with a lot of overtaking which is not easy on this track. It was my worst race; very disappointing after the strong result at Qatar."
Earlier, Australian Sissis, who pulled out of the Grand Prix of Qatar due to a severe bout of tonsillitis, exited the race in the first corner. He escaped injury but the MGP3O was badly damaged to restart.
"I felt good before the race. I had a bad qualifying but improved a bit this morning. I was expecting a better race. I don't really know what happened. A rider behind me ran onto the inside kerb and crashed and his bike hit mine. The handlebar was damaged and though I tried to restart, it wasn't possible," Sissis said.
KTM locked the top steps of the podium with Australia's Jack Miller winning the race in 41:06.659 to bag 25 points while Italian teammate finished only +0.069 seconds behind in second for 20 points. Honda's Spaniard rider Efren Vázquez finished third to take home 15 points.
