Valencia testing | Photo credits: KTM
The 2020 MotoGP pre-season test has gone underway and several teams have had their share of impressive performances, including Red Bull KTM. The team made it through two efficient days of testing at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit in Valencia, Spain as riders Pol Espargaro managed to set the 8th fastest time with the brand new configuration of his factory KTM RC16.
Both Red Bull KTM Factory Racing and Red Bull KTM Tech3 made full use of the testing programme at Valencia. Apart from Espargaro, new teammate Brad Binder also familiarised with the new MotoGP machinery and scored 22nd fastest. Test rider Dani Pedrosa came in 14th place whereas Tech3 rookie Iker Lecuona trailed behind at 15th.
Here’s what the riders have to say about the testing programme.
Photo credits: KTM
“Overall it has been a good two days, a lot of info for the electronics and for the guys in the factory and the chassis technicians so quite positive. Today we focussed again on chassis and tested an evolution. When I crashed on the bike with yesterday’s frame we jumped straight away on the new one and it was very good. I’m super-happy; to have a second chassis like that right away means we know what we are doing, which is so important. We are ‘touching the button’ and improving our weakest spots. We go to Jerez now and let’s see what’s going on there and whether we can stay at the same level as here in Valencia,” says Espargaro as quoted from KTM Factory Racing.
Photo credits: KTM
“It was a cool two days and completely different to what I expected. From lap one it was like another world. The amount of power on the MotoGP bike is unbelievable. It’s incredible to see Pol’s data and some of the things he is doing is insane. I have a lot to learn. It is mainly just the lines and the way you pick up the bike on the exit of the corners. Working with the new team has been amazing. The guys are awesome and there is no pressure, they are super-chilled. They want me to improve in my own time. I had a little crash there at the end but other than that everything was pretty good today. More speed will come with time and when I find more confidence on the bike.”
Photo credits: KTM
“Now I have two days more on the bike here in Valencia. Overall, it was very nice with the bike and my feeling got a lot better. I improved my lap time compared to qualifying on Saturday. I know that I still need to continue my work and adapt my riding style a lot more. For the next test in Jerez I want to change some more things regarding lean angle and my body position. On the brakes, I already feel better and also with the electronics but there’s still a lot to do for us.”
Photo credits: KTM
“We are very happy with the test and the position and work we have done. We needed this time on track and with new stuff without the pressure of lap-times. Our four riders went through their respective schedules in a good way. Pol is already working with next year’s bike – the first prototype that Dani used this summer – and Dani himself continued to work with this version. Iker and Brad used the last spec of 2019 to get used to the bike and there are many things to learn. We can see that the speed is coming but they need to get the hang of the power, the tyres and the electronics. We were lucky with two dry days here and hopefully we can carry on in Jerez. Again I want to thank everyone in the factory for all the effort and strong work to bring us to this point. Let’s keep pushing.”
Photo credits: KTM
“As with every year it is an exciting time for us as a team and as engineers. We had a lot of new parts here, maybe 30% of what we need to validate before the end of the year and we managed to do it already. We have virtually a new bike, a new package, with different parts to come together. We’ve been working on this with Dani and Pol and there are also options where we have to decide ‘A’ or ‘B’ and see if they work as well as the old one: that’s where we could involve our new riders a little bit but generally we tried to keep them as free as possible to focus on the riding and understanding the bike. Overall it was a really successful test and we are happy with what we have for the new bike. Pol was fast and very consistent. We are still at the point where we have to explore this package, so we have to keep pushing and tuning it. We still have to decide on a lot of parts and we’ll hope to do that in Jerez and the rest in Sepang next year.”