We know it, at Tech3, this 2019 season opens a new era. After almost 20 years of Yamaha , now is the time for KTM. But the story is not just about a change of manufacturer. In recent years, Hervé Poncharal's team has had to work with motorcycles from the previous year. Development was generally focused on small details. As a result, the gap to the peak generally increased over the course of the season. A fatality which is now lifted with the new KTM partnership. Tech3 is in fact fully involved in the development of the RC16 with the two drivers Miguel Oliveira and Hafizh Syahrin.
Of course, given the first times so far established during this offseason, this change of course does not seem so big. But when things are in place, it will pay off. A return on investment which will inevitably arrive, because the French boss, who has nevertheless seen others, is rave about the means perceived on the Mattighofen side: “ the first contact we had with them was last November in Valencia and the tests in Jerez " Explain Hervé Poncharal on Tutototiweb. " Then we spent a week in Mattighofen, to get to know each other better and examine the infrastructure. I have worked with many well-known motorcycle manufacturers, but KTM has the biggest, best and most advanced competition department in the motorcycle industry. ».
The Frenchman is also enthusiastic about the work accomplished by KTM over the winter: “ from the Valencia tests to those at Sepang, it is impressive to see how many new parts have been developed. And the impression for all four drivers has improved significantly. Thanks to the engineers who worked so hard, but we still have to work. KTM is giving us a lot of support, a lot of new faces have arrived and we must now feel like a big group. So far we are proud to be part of it ».
The KTM policy is to divide the activity between the four riders and gather as much information as possible. “ We have KTM and WP technicians in our box for each rider ", said Miguel Oliveira at “Motorsport-Total.com”. “Ie works with my team, but KTM constantly receives all the feedback ».
The four pilots can also view each other's data. Therefore, Tech3 pilots know what Pol Espargaro et Johann zarco are part of the official factory team and vice versa. Depending on the program, in the future Tech 3 may receive other developments than the official team. “ If Miguel does a good job, for example, we could give him something that hasn't been tried in the official team », declared the team manager of the official team Mike leitner. " This is what we did at Sepang, where we gave Tech3 tools to get feedback ».
