At KTM, we are experiencing a bad series with repeated injuries to its drivers. Mika Kallio is sidelined until the end of the year due to a knee with damaged ligaments. The Finn will nevertheless still be in the Mattighofen squad in 2019 to do tests. Espargaro Pol, for his part, once again fell heavily from his RC16. His third major accident of the season. Suddenly, the orange tunics mobilize the old guard. Randy de Puniet is thus mobilized…
The Frenchman has not raced at this level of competition since Valencia 2014 and that was then on a Suzuki. But at KTM, there is urgency: “ we are now behind schedule in our MotoGP test program because we were unable to run the planned program in recent weeks due to test riders Kallio and Pol being injured. This is why yesterday, Saturday, was one of the most frustrating days of our project. Because we found a new direction, the bike and the performance during FP3 were very encouraging. But an hour later, everything was in question » regrets Pete Beirer, the sports man at KTM.
Public chat speedweek, Günther Wiesinger reports the following remarks: “ Pol has had surgery and he would already like to drive in Thailand. But we have to ask ourselves whether this makes sense. He rode 14 days ago five weeks after breaking his collarbone in Brno. But he suffered so much in Italy that he could no longer continue, he had to abandon the race. Now he has broken the same collarbone and has had surgery again. How could he be fit in two weeks? »
He finishes : " therefore, it would make more sense for him to give up Thailand. And maybe even two weeks later in Japan. If you want to be reasonable, it must be said that Pol will be absent for the next two races. Afterwards, he may be able to participate in the last two overseas races in Australia ».
« Randy de Puniet will test alone here Monday and Tuesday. We will not use Bradley Smith for these tests because he will go to Aprilia next year. Randy will be in Buriram as Pol's replacement pilot. This is what we agreed ».
Update: Note however that in the immediate entourage of the French pilot, we are currently denying this information.
Wait and see ...
