KTM makes its first appearance in official competition against the MotoGP elite. All with an RC16 which is in its infancy. This Valencia Grand Prix should therefore only be a full-scale test session, a training and discovery course. Except that the men in orange promised us more during the weapons vigil. The first confrontation brought everyone back down to earth.
KTM and its rider Rock had sworn: this Valencia deadline would not be that of simple figuration. On the evening of the first day spent among the elite on the Ricardo Tormo route, the word was lower in the ranks of Mattighofen. And for good reason: the orange motorcycle was the red lantern.
And not just a little: 3s111 behind the leader of the day on a 4 km route and the least far from the pursuers at 0,928s in the person of the modest Tito Rabat. Nothing to brag about then. “ The results show the reality: the gap with the leading men is too big " recognize Rock. " This is a big surprise for us. We thought we would be closer. I'm not happy with this result ».
The Finn explains: “ we can't get the rear tire to work. We have no traction. We changed the settings, I toured with both bikes, but nothing helped. I tried with the hard one, the soft one, the problem remained the same. I am not satisfied. During the tests carried out in October on this same circuit and in similar conditions we were faster. That's why we expected good more ».
And on the engine side? No more consolation: 312,1 km/h at peak compared to 321,5 km/h of the Suzuki of Casa Particular in Viñales or to 320,9 of Dovizioso. Bradl on the Aprilia hoped for as a target is 314,7 km/h. But we are not giving up: “ we have two days to respondir » hammers Rock. " If we find more grip to get out of the last corner faster, we can catch up in the top speed department on Saturday ". Given the starting point, the future can only be better for KTM.
