When Simon Crafar leaves his MotoGP-branded microphone lying around in the pits during sessions, something always cool comes out. This time it came across Pete Beirer, the sports man at KTM, who spoke about his two official riders. Be careful, it can sting...
First, it is good to remember that the best result at the end of a Qatar MotoGP Grand Prix for a KTM is sixteenth place. The Mattighofen firm owes it to Pol Espargaro. The latter brought back a podium from Valencia in 2018. And here he is in front Valentino Rossi et Johann zarco at the end of the first evening of the 2019 edition in Losail. Which means sixteenth position… But Pete Beirer don't take offense. He's got his Spanish right. Certainly. But the French Johann zarco ?
A Crafar, he tells : " we have a lot of work to do with now four drivers on the grid. We have done what we need to do to become bigger, now we need to become faster. Knock on wood because our four pilots are operational. Our technicians don't get any rest, but that's what's so exciting ».
He pursues : " Pol is the one who knows the bike the most. He showed us two weeks ago during testing here that we could be fast at Losail. We're a little surprised because we see him getting better with each outing. He makes the bike progress. He asks for things, we give them to him and he gets better again, so everything is going perfectly well ».
However… " I'm not going to lie, we were hoping that Johann would adapt more easily to our bike. But he's having trouble. Which demonstrates that our machine needs to be controlled in a different way from others. Johann must adapt to our motorcycle. For now he's running at a decent pace, but we're not there ».
“We are just getting started and I think if we show that we can take our bike to a high level with Pol, the other riders will follow. So I'm very happy to see Pol progressing in this way ».
He finishes : " it's the same with Syahrin. He also comes from a good bike and he suffers on our machine. On the other hand, I see Miguel Oliveira doing a good job coming from Moto2. He has already shown us beautiful things. It seems that if you start from a blank slate when approaching our bike, it's easier to develop a riding style that suits it well. You definitely can't ride it like a Yamaha for example. ».
MotoGP, Qatar J1: times
| 1 | 93 | Marc MÁRQUEZ | Honda | 1'53.380 | ||
| 2 | 12 | Maverick VIÑALES | Yamaha | 1'53.854 | 0.474 | 0.474 |
| 3 | 43 | Jack Miller | Ducati | 1'53.908 | 0.528 | 0.054 |
| 4 | 9 | Danilo PETRUCCI | Ducati | 1'54.053 | 0.673 | 0.145 |
| 5 | 20 | Fabio QUARTARARO | Yamaha | 1'54.154 | 0.774 | 0.101 |
| 6 | 4 | Andrea Dovizioso | Ducati | 1'54.256 | 0.876 | 0.102 |
| 7 | 21 | Frank MORBIDELLI | Yamaha | 1'54.275 | 0.895 | 0.019 |
| 8 | 42 | Alex RINS | Suzuki | 1'54.320 | 0.940 | 0.045 |
| 9 | 41 | Aleix ESPARGARÓ | Aprilia | 1'54.367 | 0.987 | 0.047 |
| 10 | 36 | Joan Mir | Suzuki | 1'54.402 | 1.022 | 0.035 |
| 11 | 99 | Jorge Lorenzo | Honda | 1'54.428 | 1.048 | 0.026 |
| 12 | 30 | Takaaki NAKAGAMI | Honda | 1'54.444 | 1.064 | 0.016 |
| 13 | 35 | Cal Crutchlow | Honda | 1'54.452 | 1.072 | 0.008 |
| 14 | 63 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati | 1'54.801 | 1.421 | 0.349 |
| 15 | 53 | Tito RABAT | Ducati | 1'55.032 | 1.652 | 0.231 |
| 16 | 44 | Pol ESPARGARÓ | KTM | 1'55.053 | 1.673 | 0.021 |
| 17 | 46 | Valentino ROSSI | Yamaha | 1'55.137 | 1.757 | 0.084 |
| 18 | 5 | johann zarco | KTM | 1'55.412 | 2.032 | 0.275 |
| 19 | 29 | Andrea Iannone | Aprilia | 1'55.432 | 2.052 | 0.020 |
| 20 | 88 | Miguel OLIVEIRA | KTM | 1'55.635 | 2.255 | 0.203 |
| 21 | 17 | Karel ABRAHAM | Ducati | 1'55.654 | 2.274 | 0.019 |
| 22 | 55 | Hafiz Syahrin | KTM | 1'56.437 | 3.057 | 0.783 |
| 23 | 38 | Bradley SMITH | Aprilia | 1'56.834 | 3.454 | 0.397 |
