It was a happy Hervé Poncharal who completed the pre-entry of his Tech3 troops at Sepang. A three-day “shakedown” full of lessons. The most important of which: Miguel Oliveira is well recovered from his shoulder surgery. Even if Iker Lecuona is still a little physically weak, he did not deny his talent while the main information for the French boss was that KTM kept its word: the four RC16s presented were in fact identical...
Hervé Poncharal is a boss who is totally reassured about his technical and political choices. A good situation that the tricolor explained without disguise: “ we were all very impressed with the standard of our new bikes. The whole organization is also impressive. Stefan Pierer and Pit Beirer promised me that all four drivers in Malaysia would have the same technical specifications. And these were not empty words! What they announced has become reality. Pol Espargaró and Brad Binder have exactly the same package as our two Tech3 drivers. This gives our riders a lot of confidence and a great feeling ».
« This situation is very positive for the whole project, because we now have valuable feedback from four regular riders and the two test riders Pedrosa and Kallio, who all have the same hardware. This is a big step forward » assures Hervé who drives the point home: “ we are completely happy and impressed. Because I have already worked with many manufacturers. With Honda, with Suzuki and with Yamaha. But I have never seen as much effort and progress in twelve months as with KTM,”.
On the chronos on the track, the tricolor puts things in context: “ everyone watches the lap times. But this “shakedown” was mainly used to carry out a “technical test”. It makes no sense to chase the time with soft tires first thing in the morning in cool temperatures, as we will certainly see on Saturday and Sunday in the IRTA test. That wasn't the point. We wanted to prepare the best possible bike for the three days from Friday to Sunday. Lap times are not interesting at the moment ».
« IIt was important that Miguel Oliveira could get a feel for the bike again after the three-month break. He had a difficult operation », explains Poncharal. “ His surgeon did a clean job, the shoulder functions without pain, which is excellent news. We tested a lot. The engine, the electronics, the aerodynamics, the chassis and the suspension. Progress is visible everywhere. Friday we still have three days to work on tuning and improve performance ».
And what about the barely 19-year-old rookie? “ Iker Lecuona also did a great job », added the team boss. Except for this… “ We told Iker all winter: “the Sepang test with a MotoGP, every day from 10 a.m. to 18 p.m., will be a difficult story”. He saw that we didn't exaggerate. The third day he was destroyed... He couldn't ride properly anymore, so we took him off the bike early, after about 25 laps ».
« Now he can rest for two days. He still needs to train his upper body before the Qatar Grand Prix. When braking and changing direction, it lacks force over time. He cycled in winter, he trained in Supermoto, but it wasn't enough. Now he knows he has to get stronger. You see that due to his physical deficiencies, he cannot fly as fast as he wants. But he has already improved a lot in speed and driving style. I have complete confidence in Iker. He will be a good MotoGP rider " finished Hervé Poncharal on speedweek.
