It was only last year that the MotoGP™ returned to Austria for the first time in 19 years and it was that event where KTM for the first time presented its KTM RC16 project to the public. One year later, more than 201,580 people came to see and cheer their heroes during the Austrian Grand Prix weekend, the second highest number of fans attending a race so far in 2017.
Besides their bright company color, the Red Bull KTM MotoGP™ Factory Racing outfit also has an extra hint of orange to it, solely supplied by Gerald Perdon. The Dutchman is responsible for Bradley Smith’s suspension and at Perdon’s home round at Assen he gave us a behind the scenes look at what goes on.
If the five relatively pain-free crashes by Marc Márquez at the recent Grand Prix of Catalunya demonstrate anything then the levels of protection that MotoGP™ riders can count on plays a crucial role. We asked Red Bull KTM’s Pol Espargaró for some more details …
Thanks to fantastic TV images and generous access the intimate workings of a MotoGP™ team are not quite as mysterious or hidden as they once were. Going a step further we spent an entire session amongst the pit areas of Pol Espargaró and Bradley Smith at Losail, Qatar and this is what we saw …
The third and final test of the MotoGP ‘pre-season’ is just around the corner at Qatar next week with the 2017 championship getting underway also at Losail on March 26. The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team colors have been shown and the countdown to a momentous day for the company is hotting up.
Over a year, tens of thousands of track kilometers, five tests with rivals for company and a first wild-card race appearance: KTM has certainly built the foundations for their first MotoGP season in 2017 but after all the images, soundbites, assessments and output with the RC16 what is the actual state of play with the project? We asked the open and jovial Crew Chief Paul Trevathan for some information at the Jerez shakedown …
