On Track Off Road No.184

FEATURE
podiums and front-rows that
he enjoyed with Zarco for the
last two years but the quotetastic
Frenchman is a Grand
Prix stalwart so his words
carried some impressive
weight when he claimed: “I
have been working with a lot
of different motorcycle manufacturers
but this is clearly the
best, the biggest and the most
advanced racing department
I have ever seen in the motorcycle
industry. When you see
this then you know they are
serious about racing. ‘Ready
to race’: it is not just something
on the t-shirt.”
The initial taste of the orange
for Tech3 last November
looked a little disconcerting
but Oliveira, in particular,
made great strides during five
days of hot and sweaty work
at Sepang for the first of two
MotoGP tests the previous
week. “I can tell you – without
being politically correct and
I always say what I think and
feel - in between what we tested
in November and what we
tested in Sepang the amount
of new parts is impressive
and also the amount that has
been done: the improvement
of the feeling for our riders,”
Poncharal added. “ I would
like to thank all the engineers
for their work during the winter
break, which was short.
There is still some catch-up
to do but we had a great test
in Sepang and we didn’t just
focus on the one lap but we
took every tyre until more than
race distance and we tried to
understand the package and
give the right information to
the engineers.”
“KTM built a very strong support
structure around us, a lot
of new faces, so at the moment
we have a group but we
need to make this group feel
like one, to understand each
other better and this is the
purpose of the winter test but,
honestly, so far we are very
happy and proud,” he said,
revealing that Tech3 might
have switched colours and
technology after an eternity
with Yamaha (it would have
been two decades in an official
capacity this year) but
there is also a human aspect
to the change. “We know this
year is an exciting challenge:
when you have to catch up it
is always exciting.”
Zarco is Poncharal’s old vanguard.
Espargaro is probably
more of the de facto team
leader thanks to his experience
of the RC16 and the setup
however the Frenchman is
not only the most successful
rider of the entire KTM pack
but the one that will face the
most scrutiny. Amazingly his
union with KTM represents
the first time in his career
that he can enjoy the status of
‘factory’. “When I go into the
garage…that feeling is pretty
nice: to have all that support,”
he said to presenter Alex Hofmann.
“Everyone is important.
We need the time to develop
everything and have the bike
that will win races but we are
on the way and that is exciting.”
The sweep around the other
riders (Brad Binder and Jorge
Martin two of the last three
Moto3 world champions,
Bezzecchi and Philipp Öttl
and sensational teenager Can
Öncü) revealed some interesting
titbits. South African
Binder is arguably KTM’s
main hope in a bewildering
first Moto2 term with Triumph
engine power. Facing his third
year in the intermediate class
Binder was given the (by now)
usual question about the
shifting demands of the category.
“[There is] Definitely a
lot more bottom power, a lot
more aggressive than what we
are used to with the old Moto2
bikes,” he offered. “It will be
a year of a lot of development
with everybody having to build
a new chassis. I think we started
off in a good way and we’re
in a good place.”
Moto2 is a step in the dark
for the whole grid but Binder
manages to combine a humble
and friendly demeanour
with one that houses a