Zarco, who made the transfer to KTM from Tech 3 Yamaha, has endured a troublesome first two races aboard the RC16 bike, ending 15th in each Qatar and Argentina. The Frenchman admitted after the Termas de Rio Hondo race final month that "everything I do is not working" and that his struggles together with his new equipment left him feeling "exhausted". KTM motorsport boss Pit Beirer mentioned throughout the Qatar weekend that the Austrian producer's star signing has taken longer than anticipated to stand up to hurry, with Espargaro having up to now scored 10 factors this 12 months to Zarco's two. Espargaro believes Zarco must be taught to take such feedback on the chin - stating the
Tag: KTM
More points for KTM in Texas
Despite the wrong tyre choice, Smith reflected positively on his weekend in Austin, as he looks forward to the next round in Jerez. “We learn from this one, the soft was the right choice for our bike here, and we go to Europe. The whole weekend has been better than it was in the first couple of races, we were fighting where we thought we could be, I thought in the beginning of the race I showed what I can do, and now we just need to put the pieces together for the full race distance.” Source link
KTM find the positives from Losail
“I mean Qatar is always a tricky one, it's one of those tracks where the conditions constantly change and you find yourself chasing setting. Then the track gets better and a setting works, and then it doesn't, and it's very confusing so I'm quite happy that we finished the race without any problems. But yeah, we can’t be overly happy with the performance. I was happy with my opening ten laps, I made a good start up into the points and was fighting with all the guys that finished there, which was looking promising. I had a little bit of a slower pace than some of the guys around me but you know 56.5 was kind of my maximum. Then
Bagnaia and Marquez lead testing timesheets in Jerez
2016 Moto3™ World Champion Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was P11for KTM, ahead of the fastest of the Moto3™ graduates this season: Romano Fenati (Marinelli Snipers Team). And it was an identical gap back to the returning Danny Kent (Beta Tools Speed Up Racing) in P13, with 0.089 between them. Fourteenth was another KTM with Sam Lowes (Swiss Innovative Investors), former Moto2™ title contender, getting to grips with his new bike, ahead of reigning Moto3™ Champion Joan Mir (EG 0,0 Marc VDS). Source link
Bagnaia quickest, Mir fastest rookie at Jerez
Bagnaia, 2017 Rookie of the Year, went top – with Alex Marquez (EG 0,0 Marc VDS) taking second as Kalex made it a 1-2 on the timesheets. KTM, winner of the final three races of the year, took third with Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) – who also tested a new chassis. Luca Marini, moving to partner Bagnaia at Sky Racing Team VR46, was fourth fastest as the second KTM of Brad Binder closed out the top five. Isaac Viñales (SAG Team) was P6, ahead of Mattia Pasini (Italtrans Racing Team), Lorenzo Baldassarri on his new Pons HP 40 machine and Fabio Quartararo on the Speed Up for the first time. Source link
Bradley Smith's blog: Making progress
Putting those two dodgy weekends behind me, I think they are the only negative parts of what has been a good first half of the season for me and the new KTM team. We have continued to make steady progress moving in the right direction with the bike getting better and better. We beat some very good riders on competitive machinery in Germany and we really raced into the points. Other races when we have picked up points riders have dropped out or crashed but there was only one major crash in front of us – we really earned those points. We raced the KTM into the points rather than just picking up points. It was great for the morale
PrüstelGP switches to KTM in 2018
At the race weekend in Assen one week ago, Mahindra announced their withdrawal from the Moto3™ class at the end of the season after six years of racing in the lightweight class. The Indian manufacturer have justified the step around strategic internal changes.Following numerous negotiations, already conducted by PrüstelGP management prior to the announcement, a contract with KTM was signed on Sunday at the Sachsenring. Having fixed the deal with KTM, the team now hopes to expedite the negotiations with potential riders for 2018.Despite their withdrawal, Mahindra and Peugeot will still provide their full support to the Peugeot Motocycles SAXOPRINT, as well as the other Mahindra teams for the rest of the season. Source link