Mike Leitner knows better than anyone, 2020 was a special season for KTM in MotoGP. Three victories, five podiums, a fifth place in the riders' standings have made the RC16 a bike that we are now looking at closely. The presentation of the Mattighofen family, made up of four machines divided into two teams, one official and one French in the factory colors, revealed four drivers. But Mike Leitner, the race director, returns to his test driver whom he knows well having been his chief mechanic at Honda: in this case Dani Pedrosa.
The contribution of Dani Pedrosa to the development of the KTM in MotoGP has been going on for two years now, and we are seeing the results. Pol Espargaro, before leaving for Honda, although he pointed out that we should not forget Mika Kallio in this overall work, it is still the three-time World Champion that we attribute the merits of this good front of the RC16.
Without validating this general feeling, Mike leitner nevertheless clarified the exact extent of the contribution of Dani Pedrosa, remembering that he measures 1m60 and weighs 51 kilos. Parameters that define a particular working method…” I think he's a very experienced MotoGP rider and where Dani is really good is he's not just looking for a lap time " said Leitner. " I mean the guy, in his brain, and that's what he had to have in his career because he's a very small driver and he only had a certain amount of energy for a race, it really looks at what makes the change for the race distance ».
« On this point, he is really, really good. Many people learn a lot from him »Insists Leitner on the winner of 31 Grands Prix whose contribution is multiple. Leitner explain : " of course you bring in new pieces to test and ask Dani exactly what the feeling or impression is about them. But after riding the bike and doing the testing, he also impresses us with his side of what he would target. So it's always a combination between the pilot's opinion and the ideas that people have in the company ».
Mike Leitner: “Pedrosa is very straight and very honest”
« We have a lot of good designers and engineers, they also bring a lot of ideas to the track that none of the drivers asked for. And then there are other parts that we bring, which meet the demands of the pilots. It's not always easy to work with people, let's say, you can imagine if you're a young designer or engineer, you work for a month on a specific piece. You test drive it, you're so excited and the first thing the driver says to you when he comes back to the garage is that you better throw it in the trash or something! ».
« But Dani does it very well. I think now, after two years of testing, all the people at KTM understand him very well and can work better and better from his feedback. Dani does a very good job, always being very honest " congratulates himself Leitner on his 35-year-old test pilot.
« It's a good combination, which has developed over the last two years » ends on crash.net the framework about the one who spent 11 years at Repsol Honda. Pedrosa et Mika Kallio were both extended by KTM for the 2021 season. The brand having lost technical concessions due to last year's success, it is no longer able to carry out private tests with the incumbent drivers and will therefore count on Pedrosa et Rock more than ever for development tasks.
