KTM face a crucial few weeks

Problems mount for the Austrian factory, especially rider recruitment…

KTM OVER-ACHIEVED IN their first Motogp season. This has given them several problems this year, especially as their form in Qatar was nowhere near the level at the end of ’17, when both Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith were regular top-ten finishers. In the very near future KTM have to sign riders for their factory team, as do Tech 3 – the official KTM satellite squad for 2019. Tech 3 currently employ Johann Zarco, who likes his team but deserves a factory bike of some kind next year. KTM’S job over the next couple of races is to convince Zarco, and others, that their bike is a real option. And they have to do that with an injured Espargaro and an unpredictable Bradley Smith. And they have to do that at two flyaway races this month, which effectively means using the machinery they finished Qatar with. And don’t fall into the trap of thinking they’ll have time back in Europe – most potential winners have already signed. For their first year, KTM considered Suzuki their reference. The first year of the GSX-RR was impressive, but last year they struggled having over-compensated for some of their problems. This year, the Suzuki looks sorted. Much of the improvement is down to ex-team Roberts engineer Tom O’kane’s work away from the track. He was Aleix Espargaro’s race engineer in the first year of the GSX-RR but was then cleverly given an R&D role. KTM aren’t short of clever designers or budget, but the brains lack race experience and there is finger-pointing when things don’t go well. I fully expect KTM to improve the bike, but the timescale is a worry. Conversely, Suzuki’s good showing at Qatar, suggests that after that difficult second album (copyright Mat Oxley), they will be competitive. Now put yourself in Johann Zarco’s position: you really want a factory Yamaha but you aren’t going to get one. Unless KTM do something exceptional soon even Red Bull’s money isn’t going to get you to sign. Honda have already done a little fishing, but is being second rider on that bike really a good idea? Yet, if Iannone and especially Rins show well in the Americas, that Suzuki is going to look very attractive indeed. By the way, many of the same arguments could apply to KTM’S Moto2 effort after they got a pasting from the Kalex. Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder, who dominated the end of the 2017 season, finished over ten seconds behind Bagnaia and Baldassari, leaders of the new wave of Italian aces emerging from Rossi’s VR-46 Academy. As for Moto3, KTM’S lack of recent success can be attributed to Honda’s uberaggressive rider-recruitment in the final years of Nakamotosuppo management at HRC.

‘KTM’S job over the next couple of races is to convince Zarco that their bike is a real option’