On Track Off Road No.184

and the second team where we
can bring up the riders from
other classes and they can
have their first steps into MotoGP
with less pressure than
perhaps the factory team. This
is really what we want to do,
and is just great.” The parallel
for Red Bull with their F1 outlay
was immediate (even the link
with the Torro Rossi ‘blue’).
“We proved it already in four
wheels,” Überall underlined.
“We had Red Bull Racing and
just one year later Torro Rosso
which is the junior team in
Formula One and we do something
very similar in MotoGP
now. This will hopefully bring
us some success for the future
and, hopefully, brings us the
first world champion on the
road in the top class of MotoGP
very soon. No pressure to
the riders!”
Tech3 is thus the ‘cradle’ and
the cooking pot for KTM and
their MotoGP tilt but Oliveira
was quick to dismiss the notion
that he and Syahrin are in any
way a form of ‘testing mule’
for the Espargaro/Zarco factory
duo. “I don’t feel that we
are a ‘second’ team,” he stated.
“I think it is just a big group
of guys that want to work and
push KTM to be at the top. We
are working quite close together.
KTM brought many parts [to
the Sepang test] that we suggested
at the end of last year.
So we are going forward. Of
course my goal is to get closer
to them but we must bear in
mind that they are two riders
with a lot of experience and Johann
has showed his potential
on other bikes. I just have to
keep calm and focus on where
I want to go.”
Oliveira was one of the most
erudite speakers at the hourlong
spectacle. The Portuguese
sometimes comes across as
intense and staid but he is
perceptive and shrewd and a
contrast to the bland platitudes
straight out of the racer’s PR
handbook provided by the likes
of Marco Bezzecchi (when will
Pro athletes learn that it is sincere
thoughts and feelings or
good anecdotes or stories that
capture imagination and interest?
It’s a minor but significant
part of the job).
In the same talkative vein,
Herve Poncharal is accustomed
to surprises in his three-decade
stint as leader of one of
the championship’s leading
satellite teams. 2019 might be
a season of transition and education
away from the glare of
KTM’S BIG MotoGP PUSH