When KTM launched its MotoGP project, the idea was to bring together as many Austrians as possible in senior positions. This is how the role of team manager was assigned to former GP 125 rider Michael “Mike” Leitner, poaching him from the Repsol Honda team where he was technical manager of Dani Pedrosa’s bike.
In January 2015, everything was new for Leitner: “It’s an exciting and interesting project because we’re starting from scratch,” he then estimated. “I am happy to see an Austrian company, and an owner like Stefan Pierer, launching such a project. I like challenges and I'm happy to be part of this one. »
Pete Beirer, the director of the KTM Motorsport department, explained that “ Mike will work closely with Sebastian Risse, who heads the technical department for Grand Prix at KTM. Mike is now the most experienced person in MotoGP at KTM. He will participate in the creation of the team which will be responsible for the tests and will help us find new collaborators in the paddock. »
Aged 54 (born September 28, 1962 in Bad Ischl, Austria) he competed in 52 Grands Prix in the 125 category between 1985 and 1990. His best result in the Championship was tenth place obtained in 1987 on a 125 MBA prepared by Harald Bartol, another Austrian driver-technician who became (the world is small) Technical Director of the KTM Grand Prix team in 2003 until the official withdrawal of the Austrian brand in 2009.
The KTM RC16 made its debut, under the responsibility of Mike Leitner, in October 2015 at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, and has since completed around sixty days of testing, first with Mika Kallio as a tester, then with his two permanent pilots Espargaro Pol et Bradley Smith.
For Leitner, “ The whole company worked a lot so that we could launch the project. To be fair, what we have seen since Sepang has been very pleasing. We had some problems after Valencia. We tried to correct them, and the designers and everyone in the company worked very hard, we went in the right direction and I think the drivers feel the same way.
“But there are a lot of challenges. The most important thing is that we keep both boys (Smith and Espargaro) motivated and can deliver what they think is good for the lap times and for their feeling on the bike. I think that's our main goal and everyone here is working to achieve it. »
Photos © Gold & Goose, Philip Platzer, Focus Pollution and Sebas Romero for KTM
