KTM sporting director Pit Beirer is part of the movement for this ending season and who wants, in the staffs, to produce the summary sheets which will feed into the big annual report. In his, the man from Mattighoffen highlights two elements which are a driver and a manufacturer. The first is Fabio Quartararo who runs the Yamaha store, and the other is Aprilia, whose progress is recognized at KTM.
At KTM, whatever happens we will save our honor this season with two victories and podiums. However, there will remain questions with a checkered journey which has revealed weaknesses. The start of the campaign was worrying, then a new framework and a new essence worked like miracles before the summer break. The return to school was less exciting and the Austrian manufacturer can thank the self-sacrifice and stubbornness of its driver Brad Binder to keep your head above water.
« Since Mugello, we have always finished in the top 4 in four Grands Prix this year » says Beirer on speedweek. " And two months after Miguel Oliveira's victory in Catalonia, we won another Grand Prix with Brad Binder at Spielberg. We upgraded to Mugello at the end of May. But we have not made any technical progress after the summer break. If we look at the lap times since August, we see that the other five manufacturers took a step this summer that we did not take. So, in this category, overnight you go from a winning team with a winning driver to 17th or 18th place on the grid ».
Among the competitors who have progressed, Pit Beirer particularly, and sportingly, points out Aprilia : " we have a lot of respect for the progress made by Aprilia after the summer break », admits the director of KTM Motorsport. “ Aleix Espargaró has been carrying out development there since 2016. He has supported this manufacturer in good times and bad. Now he is reaping the fruits of his own labor. We also know that he is an excellent driver on his good days. Aprilia has done everything right recently. We have a lot of respect for the jump they made this summer. They worked hard and now have a great package ».
Pit Beirer: “ Quartararo at Yamaha is like Marc Marquez at Honda«
This is what is called a tribute, to say the least. But Beirer precise : " it just goes to show that in the MotoGP World Championship one small thing can make a huge difference ". On this subject, he looks at the case of Yamaha who, on paper, has certainly won 13 Grand Prix victories in the last 29 races. But… " The pilot is no small feat. Yamaha has an exceptional rider in Quartararo, and he wins. It's like with Marc Marquez for years at Honda. Without these two drivers, things would not go well at these manufacturers ».
They therefore have every interest in keeping them. We will recall that if Marc Marquez is guaranteed to be Honda until 2024, Eric Mahe, the manager of Fabio Quartararo, has already clarified that everything is open for its pilot with a view to 2023.
