The Qatar Grand Prix was not a cakewalk for Hervé Poncharal's men gathered under the Tech3 KTM awning. A point was nevertheless scored at the end of this first round of the MotoGP season completed on a Losail track that the two rookies Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez were discovering. Now, it is the Mandalika track for the Indonesian Grand Prix which is on the horizon, and the reigning Australian Moto2 World Champion, like his teammate Raul Fernandez, will be keen to take advantage of their experience acquired from this traced during the three days of testing carried out during the off-season…
Remy gardner has 175 laps already completed on the Mandalika circuit and Raul fernandez claims 116 with a big fall, which means that the pilots at the KTM orange do not start from a white sheet in Indonesia. Unlike the Qatar, where they were in the dark. Remy Gardner et Raul fernandez both admitted to finding the Losail International Circuit in Doha difficult to navigate with a MotoGP for rookies, without having been able to take advantage of pre-season tests.
Mandalika, on the other hand, allowed these essential preliminaries to find your feet. Therefore, the duo Tech3 will travel to Mandalika with more confidence thanks to the information already collected which will allow us to already have a solid base to work on for this second race of the year.
« The first race of the season in Qatar was positive as we finished with a point, which is not bad for a first race in MotoGP »Comments Remy gardner. " We still have a lot of work to do, so I'm looking forward to going to Mandalika to try to make some improvements from the lessons learned in Qatar. We have already done some tests in Mandalika, so we know the directions to take to prepare for Sunday's race. I'm excited to race in Indonesia for the first time, meet the fans there and reunite with my team ».
Hervé Poncharal: “ we hope we can fight for the points”
Raul fernandez, his teammate, last in the Qatar, adds: “ The first race in Qatar was difficult for us because we finished far from the first KTM rider. I take a positive from this because it means we can learn from what Brad Binder did to improve. I want to enjoy the bike for the second race in Mandalika. I'm a rookie and it's important to take each race one by one to progress. The aim is to try to close the gap with the KTM riders. We already tested in Indonesia last month, so we have a good base to work from, and we will try to improve and prepare as best we can for Sunday's race ". The Spaniard also specifies: “ above all, I want to have fun ».
The boss Hervé Poncharal finished : " after all the hype, excitement and long wait, the Pertamina Mandalika Circuit is finally ready to welcome the MotoGP class for its first ever Grand Prix. It’s clearly a unique place that will be an incredible destination. I know there are a lot of fans in Indonesia waiting for us, so I'm sure the support from the locals will be amazing ».
« This is the second round of the season, but also the first circuit where we were able to do a few laps beforehand. Raul and Remy both enjoyed their testing days last month, they had good pace and did a good job with their teams. Brad Binder's performance in Qatar gives us extra motivation and we hope we can fight for points this time ».
