At the end of 2018, Hervé Poncharal and the Tech3 team took on the challenge of leaving Yamaha for KTM, a very daring challenge since the Austrian manufacturer only has 2 years of experience in the premier category, and as a result its RC16s are for the moment a little less efficient than most of their opponents.
And let's not hide it, the first tests in Valencia and Jerez were not very reassuring, the productions of Mattighofen proving logically adapted to Pol Espargaro, therefore a little brutal and rebellious (see Guy Coulon’s comments on this subject).
Since then, the KTM factory competition department has taken into consideration the arrival of this new team and offered a copy already corrected during the MotoGP tests which have just ended in Sepang.
It was therefore interesting to gather the point of view ofHervé Poncharal on this subject, and we thank him for it.
Are these tests dominated by Ducati on the last day significant?
“Of course, the ranking shows a hierarchy of values, but we should not take it too literally by thinking that this is going to be the season. For what ? Because the times were set over one lap, with a relatively soft additional tire that Michelin had given, in the morning between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. where the track was between 35 and 40 degrees. The rest of the time, we drove between 55 and 60°, and that made a huge difference. We know that Marc Márquez did not push too far for the reasons we know. We know Lorenzo isn't there. We know that Cal Crutchlow is still recovering. So for me, the Hondas did not show their true colors. We also know that Maverick rode very fast but that Valentino was very fast in his timed lap, before missing out a little in T4. He would therefore have been closer if he had made his fast lap in better conditions. So more than this ranking, what we need to see is the lap by lap, and what we saw is that between Ducati, between Yamaha, between Honda and Suzuki, which are the 4 most sharp and the most efficient today, the differences are tiny. So I don't think that at the Qatar Grand Prix we will have 4 Ducatis in the first 4 positions. It's possible, but unlikely.
Today, the Ducatis are really very, very strong but that is nothing new. Hondas are stronger than they have ever been. Having spoken to Cal a few words about it and seen him ride, I'm pretty sure of it.
Lorenzo was not there but we saw in Jerez that he was quickly in the game. Marc, when we know the handicap he has, and having done what he did, he saved money and it will pay off.
Rins gave an incredible demonstration! Lap by lap, on the average of the times of these 3 days, he is the fastest. So watch out for Álex Rins!
So it will be a very, very open season and we should not take the ranking we had at the end of the 3rd day as being what will happen this year. Moreover, even if it is said that he is still a killjoy, Dovizioso said it in these comments: he is very, very happy but be careful, there is still work to do and it is not as It’s obvious that the timesheet shows it.”
How difficult is it to see from Europe the forced labor carried out by the pilots during these tests in Malaysia?
“We occasionally had moments when the temperature rose to 38° in the boxes with very high humidity. I had friends who came and who don't follow MotoGP very, very closely, but they told me "guys, they're not athletes anymore, they're supermen!" ". We can never say it enough, this concerns absolutely all MotoGP riders! And that's why it's even more astonishing when you see what they manage to do. Marquez, Crutchlow, Rabat! Rabat, when we see him get off the motorcycle, he is still very disabled from his injured leg! And did you see how many laps he did?
Just being in the box, the mechanics were soaked. With sweat, the black T-shirts had turned white in the evening. When the motorbikes come in, you can't get closer than 2 meters to them without being in water. So you imagine for the drivers, with the leather, the protections everywhere, when you have to make all the efforts they make on a circuit where there are sequences where you have to throw the bike and where you have to brake twice or you pass from 330 to 60 km/h… And they continue the runs, stopping until midday to eat a banana, a bowl of rice and cereal bars. Every day, they line up between 40 and 70 laps depending on the drivers, and they are always lucid enough to make precise comments. They are still capable of pushing within a second and a half of the absolute best time. These are therefore extremely impressive physical performances, and it is true that if you are not at the edge of the track or in the box feeling this heat with this humidity which liquefies you, you do not realize what 'they live. They are truly incredible athletes, with the added motivation to get back on the bike each time and precision in analyzing the technical commentary while the body is tired. It’s truly stunning! You can't help but be in awe of these guys when you see them working, especially in the conditions of the winter testing at Sepang."
Before the tests in Qatar, there is still something very important for KTM…
" Yes. There, we went directly from Malaysia to Austria, so from 38° to minus something, where we have a presentation of the entire Red Bull KTM family in the 3 classes, Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP. All riders who wear the Red Bull KTM colors will be present at the presentation which will take place in Mattighofen, at the KTM factory headquarters, this Tuesday February 12. We are all going to present our new colors. I think it will especially be Red Bull KTM Tech3 which will present new colors, because the others, without wanting to spoil anything, will be very close to what they rode with in 2018. But us, being the new team which arrives, we will have a similar decoration in Moto2 and MotoGP, but in terms of colors it will be very different from what the factory teams have. You can imagine that I have seen them, and I find it magnificent. It's very technical, it's very classy and very elegant. It’s beautiful and I like it! So obviously, the main thing for a racing motorcycle is to be at the front, on the front row or in the parc ferme for a podium. We'll see, but if you can get her into the parc ferme, and she's beautiful, you've come full circle.”
Remember that the colors should be close to those of the Toro Rosso F1 team.
