It was simply unthinkable not to react to the first victory of the Tech3 team in the premier category of the Grands Prix without collecting the reactions, impressions, explanations and emotions of its boss, Hervé Poncharal.
The man is verbose, we know it, and that is why we are publishing this very long interview in two parts, but we can be sure that reading his words, imbued with 40 years of experience, is not time consuming. lost…
Let's talk technical. Faced with opponents who have been there for more than 40 years, how can we explain that KTM manages to win with a bike that is not 4 years old, moreover several times this year and without benefiting from conditions special races? Do we still continue at the same annual rate of seven or nine chassis as the first year, and do we still work 24 hours a day?
« I would already say that often the student surpasses the master. I also think that the fact of arriving and starting from scratch, without preconceptions, from a blank sheet of paper, can be an advantage, because you have less data and tons of information which means that you stay in your narrow little path. I also think that there is a desire to get there, an involvement of each person in this project, and a desire to have a 360° vision, that is to say to be totally open and do not say “that will never work”. Incredible open-mindedness! »
“For example, the Japanese are very strong because their machines are extremely advanced, year after year. Each time it is the same machines which evolve, especially the small points which were weak points and which little by little approach the perfection of what we can do with the regulations. But at KTM, as you said, at the beginning they made chassis like that, maybe even too many, but they never stop and they never slow down in the face of the slightest problem. There is always a desire to bounce back and surpass oneself. I am not a great technician, but from what I see there is also a speed of reaction which is unique and particular to this factory. For example, there are two or three small things that could be modified and improved, and we told them at Austria 1. And on Wednesday at Austria 2, we had all the pieces. So, they were able to do it because we are European and we were in Austria, but it is to show that the response is ultra fast. »
“On the other hand, the Test Team really works and they were hollow in taking certainly one of the best drivers there can be as a development driver, that is to say Dani Pedrosa, and they use it to the fullest! I don't know what the others are doing with Pirro, Lorenzo or Bradl, but Dani rides almost constantly. And as soon as it validates something as being a plus, we use it! »
“Dani did some tests and found a little improvement in terms of engine behavior, and on Monday the Czech Republic Grand Prix we tested it and it was validated by the drivers, and in Austria we drove with it! The four pilots! Whether in the R&D or Test Team departments, they have hired big names in all areas, engine, electronics, chassis aerodynamics and WP suspensions, and everyone is working like crazy! For example, Dani is at the top. He listens to what the racing drivers tell him, he has great feeling, and even though he is small and discreet, when things don’t go well, he says “it’s not going well”. And he says it loudly! All this makes things move a lot. »
« I can tell you that when we arrived last year, or rather in Valence at the end of 2018, and we rode the bike for the first time, my technical team led by Guy Coulon and Nicolas Goyon thought that “there , it’s not going to be easy.” But everything we told them, they wrote it down, and each time we came out, the bike had evolved. So obviously, we didn't go from Valencia 2018 to August 2020 in the blink of an eye, there were a lot of steps, but in any case they note everything and they act. Because in the past, we sometimes had the impression that things were noted down but nothing ever followed up regarding these remarks or ideas. Here, everything you say is listened to and there is never a high attitudemiddle and upper, where you understand that they note it because they are well brought up but that they think “always talk” before archiving it at the bottom of a cupboard. »
« To some extent, it may also be due to the European character which is more adventurous and perhaps has less need for processes and validations before launching. When we look at Ducati, it was also at the forefront of development and brought many things which were then adopted by others. I think that in Europe, there is a way of seeing things and a culture that is different: we are more adventurous, more ready to take risks and we have fewer obstacles. Sometimes it can be a handicap, I'm not saying the opposite, but in any case we're moving forward. »
« At the beginning, they told us “come, we need two more pilots, but we will also need you, your expertise, and Guy, Nico, Alex, Max and the others tell us what you find which does not fit on the motorcycle”. Sometimes we would tell them “your bike is a… or it’s a…”, and it wasn’t always very flattering, but they never took offense! And besides, when Pit gave his speech on Sunday evening, he told them “we can never thank Tech3 enough for getting into us and sometimes telling us that, no, it wasn't working”. »
« It’s a state of mind, an open-mindedness. From the moment you trust people, that you tell them that you want to work with them because they bring you this, this and that, you use them. And they used us. And that’s not the case everywhere! »
Compared to Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki, KTM still remains a small motorcycle manufacturer. Does it have the means, even with its main sponsor, to continue this very ambitious policy?
« It is certain that if you take the turnover of Honda, Suzuki, Yamaha and KTM, and the investment that these manufacturers make in MotoGP, in percentage KTM smashes everything that exists! It is a company that performs, it is a company that is profitable, but which re-injects a huge part of its turnover, and therefore of its potential profits, into the competition. Much more than the others! So it's certain that there is a very strong desire to succeed and to fight, and that's what caused them to be mocked a little bit at the beginning, by those who when they announced that they wanted to fight with Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki, everyone told them that they would never make it because they were much too small. »
« But here we come back to the technical regulations as they are, with the maximum costs on certain things. Thanks to this, they have the capacity to invest and spend the sums necessary to be efficient. The proof ! It is certain that if tomorrow there were total freedom on a whole bunch of research and technical development parameters, KTM would never be able to follow a group like Honda Motors if Honda Motors wants to quadruple or quintuple its investments! But that's why also with Dorna, we always had that in mind: if we want to have a great championship, there must be a maximum number of manufacturers, and since not all manufacturers have the same means, manufacturers who have less means must be able to come and stay. But if they stay, it's because they have results, otherwise they won't spend money without ever having any return on investment. So there are a lot of people who think that KTM, with its sponsor Red Bull, has huge and unlimited budgets, but that is completely false! Red Bull is a highly efficient company, but it's a company where people know how to count and it's a company that spends what needs to be spent in each area. They know the amounts and they are not going to spend 10 times more than the others. It's clear. »
« So Red Bull KTM's budgets are not infinitely expandable and are not huge, but today Red Bull and KTM together spend what needs to be spent to be efficient, and thanks to these technical regulations which mean that we are still limited, without even mentioning the current and future financial crisis which has frozen everything for 2020 and 2021, this allows us to hope to get through this difficult moment. As long as we have Dorna and Carmelo at its head, with all the people who work with him and in this case also me, we will ensure that manufacturers like KTM, like Aprilia and like Ducati, who are not monsters like Honda, Yamaha and Suzuki, can participate in MotoGP and be competitive. »
« Besides, if you look at what is happening with our friends and cousins in Formula 1, all the decisions that are taken concerning the future are close to what we have today in MotoGP: that is to say say reduce the sail on technical developments to avoid the arms race and avoid budgets that no one can afford anymore, except perhaps Mercedes, and increase the level of technical support for independent teams. »
To get out of the Tech3 and KTM framework, we started the year wondering if we were going to be able to avoid a white season, and for the moment we find ourselves, fingers crossed, with one of the best championships in recent years. How do you analyze this?
« First of all, we were lucky! You should never think that you are overpowered. We were lucky but also we were lucky to have Dorna as a promoter, and I weigh my words because I know that among your readers there are people who do not all think the same thing as me. Dorna was able to invest money at a loss and, working hand in hand with the manufacturers, the MSMA, the FIM and the IRTA, managed to write a health protocol that was sufficiently serious and viable to convince organizers and countries to listen to us. And it was not won at all! You can imagine that for all the places we go, it's not the most important thing in the world to have a MotoGP race! And there are certain sports which are perhaps more important than us which have done less well: La Liga has just started again although we started again in mid-July. We therefore succeeded in making this protocol which was signed and approved by all the stakeholders, FIM, Dorna, MSMA and IRTA, which was accepted by the organizers who believe in MotoGP, and who believe in the capacity of Dorna to avoid creating sources of spread of the virus. And so far, knock on wood, we're following the schedule as it was established. Unfortunately, we see that the epidemic is starting to flare up again and we can never make 100% reliable forecasts on what will happen between now and the end of November, but in any case for the moment we are affecting the races that were on the calendar. We will have an evolution in media monitoring for Misano, where we will also normally have around 10 spectators. All of this is still remarkable and very appreciable compared to our state of mind and the perspectives that we had in April when we talked about it together. »
