At the very end of the 2018 season, in Valencia, the 6 manufacturers present in MotoGP spoke to the press, taking stock of last year and looking ahead to 2019.
After those of Romano Albesiano for Aprilia, and while waiting for those of the representatives of Suzuki, Yamaha, Ducati and Honda, here are the full statements of Pit Beirer for KTM.
As a reminder, Espargaro Pol ranked 14th in the 2018 championship with 51 points, while his teammate Bradley Smith finished 18th with 38 units.
Pete Beirer : “It's been a difficult year, but we didn't expect an easy road when we moved up to MotoGP. So I would say that it was just a normal year in MotoGP for rookies in this category. Things went pretty well at the start, then we brought a lot of new parts and almost a new bike to the Sachsenring. We set up the bike and we were first during the warm up on Sunday morning, then Pol crashed during the race. He came back to Brno and got injured. He returned to Aragon and was injured again. The same weekend at Sachsenring, Mika was also injured. We then had too many new parts to try in our schedule and we were not able to put them on track, which prevented us from obtaining better results. So overall I'm happy with the way the team is working and we just couldn't prove on the track what level we are at now. I agree that it's been a difficult year, but if you have such a fantastic team with very good drivers and they stay at home because they are injured, you can't perform. If 2 of your 3 pilots are injured, you are no longer in business. So I'm very eager to take the next step, and our project will grow with more drivers and a test driver arriving (editor's note: Dani Pedrosa, unfortunately injured since). I think we will never have to face the same situation as we had in the middle of the season, where we were basically without a driver. So I’m really looking forward to getting to the next stage.”
You will have 4 motorcycles on the grid, as well as Johann Zarco…
“Anyway, you have to look at this as a long-term project, so it was always clear that we couldn't achieve crazy things in the first 2 years. So we are exactly on the road to where we wanted to be. During the first 2 years, we were able to prove that we took things very seriously and that we had a very good team. The next step is to have drivers like Johann who placed his trust in us very early on. We also have Dani coming in as a test pilot. So I think if we didn't work so professionally, he wouldn't have trusted us. This is already a first reward. But what definitely put this project in our format was having the Tech3 team, with Hervé and his entire team and all the experience they have in this category. This will make us stronger, and we will have to move forward from there. So it is clear that the future will begin on Tuesday (first day of testing in Valencia).”
How important is it to have a driver like Dani Pedrosa in your program? And was it difficult to convince him?
" No. We are definitely proud to have a driver like him. He comes from our side and brings his experience to our project. Some of our riders are in a difficult situation at the moment but they came to our project with a difficult bike where we had to change parts every week. They are distracted from pure competition. And now, with Dani but also with Johann, 2 very high level riders on their bike who were also very good, what they tell us will give us a new vision because our riders are already focused on swingarms A, B, C, chassis D, E, F, etc. So I think they're thinking too much about technical things because we've gone down that route. So it's really cool to have these guys, and with Dani it's been a very easy situation and we haven't really put a lot of pressure on it. At first, he didn't know if he wanted to stop running or not because there was another plan for him. So we didn't put any additional pressure but he knew from the start that we really wanted him because he could bring great value to our project in terms of development for the future. And I think it's always very good for a driver who stops his career to feel that he is wanted, and not just for marketing purposes. He still has the fire and he wants a job where he works, which is definitely something we can give him.”
To be continued with Davide Brivio for Suzuki…
Find Romano Albesiano for Aprilia
