2019 was supposed to be the KTM year in MotoGP. The investments made last winter and the higher class pilots recruited seemed to ensure the Austrian house a place in the fight with the other official manufacturers, but this was not the case even if...
KTM had trouble with the case “ John Zarco » which bothered them all season. Between hope and despair, there was only one step to take... Fortunately the Oranges of Mattighofen were still able to stay the course and smile with the unfailing involvement of their test pilot and champion Dani Pedrosa.
The retiree, originally from Sabadell, began his new life as a test rider for parent company KTM. The Spaniard was unable to contribute to the development of the bike straight away as he had to recover from a nasty injury earlier this year. In the second half of the season, Pedrosa started working hard to try different components, a development taken advantage of by the KTM official, Pol Espargaro.
« I think the season was very complete, we are very satisfied with what we did this year. I think I was pretty in tune with the bike. I had really good feelings, I got used to the bike race after race and continued to improve. The latest results obtained are important even if we very often finished at the foot of the top 10. We are at a higher level than at the start of the season and that is important. the last tenths will always be the most complicated to catch. We are still far from the best machines, that's a reality. It is true that with more pieces we improve to fight for the top 10, maybe we will be closer in a round, as happened in the Valencia pre-season, but hold on during a whole race, we are still far from it » explained the ex-teammate of Johann zarco.
He concludes : " We will now test the new chassis, a hybrid to try to see how it goes. Dani Pedrosa has a lot of talent and experience, and that's what we need right now, someone who makes a difference in the factory. Someone who leads this project in the test team and helps us improve in races. Now Dani goes over everything before we hit the trail. Everything he brings is very positive, we didn't have this potential before »
In 2020, Pol Espargaró will team up with Brad Binder, fresh from Moto2 with a place as vice-world champion. This bodes well for some great battles between these two... The wolf has entered the fold, one might say!
