The 2019 off-season is launched and, after four days of testing spread between Valencia and Jerez, the first trends of the new MotoGP grid have appeared. The current winter break which will continue until next February is an opportunity to take an initial assessment. And at KTM, it’s a bit mixed. Because the new arrivals on the RC16 suffered. The one who is now considered an elder among the Austrians, either Pol Espargaro, nevertheless remains calm.
On the timesheets for the first two tests of the off-season, you have to go to the bottom to find any trace of the new KTM riders. Two of them come from where arrived Pol Espargaro which will begin its third campaign on the RC2019 in 16. This is'Hafiz Syahrin and Johann zarco, who rode a Yamaha Tech3 in 2018. A position known to the Spaniard during his first three years among the elite, from 2014 to 2016.
A common destiny which allows the younger brother of an Aprilia official Aleix to evaluate these timid beginnings: “ both are very good pilots. So I don't think I have to give advice to anyone." assures the one who gave KTM the first podium in MotoGP at the end of the 2018 Valencia Grand Prix. “Syahrin did better in his first year in MotoGP than one would have expected given his modest experience. »
He ends on speedweek : " of course, he and Johann still have to learn motorcycling, as does Miguel Oliveira, who is coming off an impressive Moto2 season. But I think they will be very fast soon. This was already the case for Johann in Valencia. There's no secret: it's a motorcycle, with two wheels and an engine. They will get used to it quickly.”
We will recall that Dani Pedrosa, as a new test rider, will make his debut on the KTM in Jerez on December 18 and 19.
