The first days of 2021 testing at Losail have seen the Austrian bikes finish well down the timesheets, and that includes new entry Danilo Petrucci. Is there cause for concern ahead of championship?
08.03.2021 ( Aggiornata il 08.03.2021 18:37 )
One of the big surprises of last season was KTM, which went from being the fifth force on the grid to title contender, able to win two races during the year with Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira, as well as score strong results with Pol Espargaró, who has now moved to Honda.
Hence, many expect to see the Austrian bikes up at the sharp end in 2021, particularly now that Oliveira has moved across to the factory team and Danilo Petrucci has arrived on team Tech3, but during the first two days of testing at Losail the orange bikes appeared in more difficulty than their rivals.
No stress in the garage
Although the situation might appear worrying from the outside, especially ahead of a season in which the aim is to fight for the world title, at KTM there appears to be no concern about these latest results, as confirmed by Miguel Oliveira, who proved to be the quickest of the ‘orange’ riders over both days.
As test rider, Dani Pedrosa is moving forward with the development work and clocking up the miles, while the other riders seem to be struggling particularly with the track, which doesn’t appear to suit the characteristics of the RC16. The crashes only highlight this, with Binder, Lecuona and Petrucci all suffering falls during the course of the sessions. And yet, despite the time spent in the garage, all four riders have demonstrated competitive race pace.
Uphill start for Danilo Petrucci
There are high hopes for Danilo Petrucci with the Tech3 KTM this season, but it won’t be easy to score strong results right away with a bike so different to the Ducati Desmosedici he was used to. 21st place on day two is not a good starting point, but the Italian knows there is ample room for improvement, particularly over the flying lap.
The fact he is already ahead of Iker Lecuona who, although young, already has a year of experience on the bike, is confirmation that Danilo will be able to get the best out of the technical package available. Having already proved a winner last year, the KTM machine now faces the ‘acid test’.
Translated by Heather Watson
Qatar MotoGP test, Petrucci: “Tech3 has everything the KTM team has”
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