Circuito do Estoril has named turn seven after Miguel Oliveira ahead of the season’s penultimate WorldSBK round. The corner is now known as the Miguel Oliveira Corner: a right-hander that falls downhill after the Parabolica Interior and had not previously carried a name.

Oliveira attended the plaque ceremony at the inside of the turn. It followed a motorcycle parade from Sintra to Estoril, with the Portuguese rider taking part alongside fellow enthusiasts. The weekend is also his second home round during his rookie WorldSBK campaign, after Portimao in March.

Estoril lies west of Lisbon and is the world-championship circuit closest to Oliveira’s birthplace, Almada. Oliveira has said that the venue remains vivid in his memory, even though his last race there was the 2012 Moto3 event. The new corner name therefore links a current WorldSBK campaign with a circuit from an earlier stage of his career.

A place among Estoril’s named corners

Oliveira is the first active WorldSBK rider since Carlos Checa to have a corner named after him at a circuit on the current calendar. Checa received the honour at MotorLand’s turn three in 2011. Estoril also has a corner named for Ayrton Senna, whose first Formula 1 victory came there in 1986, while MotorLand is home to the Marc Marquez Corner.

On the track, Oliveira opened Friday with 10th place in FP1. The result adds a racing note to a landmark weekend in Portugal, where the new corner name marks his connection with the Estoril circuit and the area around his birthplace.