At KTM, the situation is generally difficult but, fortunately, there is still that devil Pol Espargaró who now demonstrates, every time he gets on his RC16, that this MotoGP is worth a top 10!
In these conditions, it is impossible for the 3 other Mattighofen drivers to give up, and even if the instructions for this machine with a tubular frame equipped with WP suspensions seem very difficult to find, they exist.
Also, instead of giving up, Johann Zarco, Miguel Oliveira and Hafizh Syahrin are working to modify their habits somewhat to get closer to the Catalan driver and, session after session, keep what is positive in inevitably contrasting weekends.
At Red Bull KTM Tech3, the sensations were better in the race than during testing, although, for different reasons,
Miguel Oliveira et Hafiz Syahrin
were not able to increase their points capital. The Portuguese driver finished in a frustrating 16th place while his Malaysian teammate had to retire following abnormal behavior of his front axle.
Hervé Poncharal Explain :
“Finishing a weekend without a point is always a disappointment, because it is a reward for the hard work of the whole team and drivers. But I still think we had a good weekend. We were very competitive during the race. Hafizh got really hot and it was a real shame, because so far it was certainly the best start of the year for him. He could have fought to score points, but unfortunately he lost the lead, he tried to stay on track, but was close to falling. He intended to continue a little more, but he lost the lead a few more times. I understand his idea that it was safer to return, but it was a huge disappointment because it was by far the best Hafizh we have seen since the start of the year.”
“Miguel toured very regularly. We knew it would be strong throughout the race, because I think the tire choice was the best. We passed quite a few guys, including Johann Zarco, and for part of the race we were in the points. But unfortunately Abraham was a little faster at the end and overtook us, which did not allow us to score this point which would have been a decent end to a fairly constructive weekend. However, we must not forget that the fall of the Warmup did not help, so Miguel was a little cautious at the start of the race. He has a small injury on the finger of his left hand.”
“OK, that's not what we want to do, but we weren't too far away. We saw that Pol Espargaró could finish ahead of some of the best factory riders, so we have to keep working. Today we finished second in the KTM MotoGP department. Overall we have mixed feelings, but let's keep the positive ones, gather all the information we have and get more confidence to go to Barcelona with a good feeling, hopefully we can score some points with our two guys." .
Miguel Oliveira: “It was a difficult race at the start and difficult to manage with a full tank. Then I started to find my rhythm and it felt great during the race. The last five laps were once again very difficult, because I lacked grip and I couldn't attack the points-giving positions. But in general, the gap to the lead wasn't too big and the gap to Pol wasn't huge either. After a difficult weekend, I think we didn't expect to be so competitive during the race, so that was positive. We learned more about motorcycling and we bring more experience to Barcelona.”
Hafiz Syahrin: " I am really disappointed. I felt very good with the bike at the start of the race, but in turn nine, the place where Rossi crashed, I had a huge low side and I was lucky to catch up. I tried to attack again, but I didn't find the same feeling as at the beginning. I wanted to do more laps, but with this feeling it was impossible for me not to make a mistake, and so I decided to retire. It's a shame, especially because I'm convinced we could have scored points here, but that happens sometimes. Even though it wasn't our day, I'm really sorry for everyone, and we continue to work hard for the next race in Montmelo. I hope I can do the same thing as here and maybe even better. Barcelona is my favorite track, so I will definitely give more than 100 percent.”
MotoGP Italian Grand Prix standings:
Classification credit: MotoGP.com
