At the end of his first MotoGP race with KTM, Johann zarco took 15th place at the finish of a Qatar Grand Prix where we had to grit our teeth. The Frenchman still has difficulty moving from the Yamaha M1 equipped with a four-cylinder in an aluminum frame, to the KTM RC16 with a tubular steel frame that surrounds a V4 engine. From a technical point of view, they are two completely different motorcycles, which require an equally particular riding style. The Frenchman has perfected his smooth style with high-speed cornering with the M1 over the past two years. A science of driving which has already led him in Moto2 to take two world titles. However…
For the moment, there is no agreement between man and machine. Who, after Qatar, and under the eyes of KTM people, should start again on new bases of approach. The fact that Johann zarco having struggled with the RC16 since almost the first days of the off-season does not surprise his compatriot Randy de Puniet. " the problem with this bike is that the corners are difficult, so Johann feels it and that's why it is a physically demanding bike“, declares by Puniet à Motorsport-Total.com. He knows what he is talking about. De Puniet was one of the test riders to ride the RC16 in 2016 before KTM entered MotoGP in 2017.
Furthermore, the same de Puniet also tested last fall for the Austrian brand, after Mika Kallio was seriously injured at the Sachsenring. The brand was then urgently looking for a test pilot. According to him, KTM must listen carefully John Zarco and respond to his wishes. New development parts are expected to be launched in Europe in early May at Jerez during the Spanish Grand Prix. In Argentina and Texas, zarco will have to ride more or less the same bike as in Qatar.
While that 15th place start to the season doesn't seem glorious, other numbers show it's anything but depressing. Firstly, zarco was only 15 seconds behind the winner. Likewise, his overall race time was only ten seconds slower than last year's time on the Yamaha Tech3. In 2018, zarco was eighth and started from pole position. The teammate Pol Espargaro showed with his twelfth place that the KTM had potential.
Even if KTM is not yet capable of winning, by Puniet underlines the progress made by the young project in recent years: “ if you compare it to the performance of other manufacturers, you are not ridiculous. Pol only gave twelve seconds to the winner and Johann fifteen. On the other hand, they are only twelfth and fifteenth. The last hundredths of a second will be difficult to find"
