The eventful weekend of KTM officials in Losail

It may be complex enough for KTM engineers to draw clear conclusions from the weekend spent in Losail, and for good reason, the performances and sensations have varied a lot from one pilot to another and even from one day to the next. While Maverick Viñales surprised his world by playing the race before when he still knows the RC16 (like his teammate, Enea Bastianini), the pilots of the official team experienced a much less linear Grand Prix than his.

Pedro Acosta, in particular, has gone through all emotions. It started well since as a reaction to his seventh time on Friday, he believed that he had spent a milestone. The click? The return to pieces of 2024, namely the saddle and the chassis. “It’s been a long time since I had taken so much pleasure”, rejoiced the Spaniard. “In Austin, we insisted a lot to bring things from last year that worked, and that’s how the sun came back. That’s exactly that, the sun came back!”

For him, this backtrack is absolutely not negative since what matters is that his performance improves. “You have to be direct when you ask for things like that, especially because we are in a very bad situation, almost embarrassing for the factory and the pilots. In the current MotoGP, and knowing that the Jerez test will be very important, it does not matter to take a step back if it allows you to take two steps forward.”

Whenever I get on the motorcycle last year, I am faster. Now it’s clear.

The next day, Acosta remained very enthusiastic about this point. “I ride with the motorcycle last year and in braking, that is to say where I had problems is much better, really much better. The problem I had in Austin has practically disappeared”, he explained.

“The braking was incredibly good! Like the first time I got on the motorcycle. What is now clear for me is that every time I get on the motorcycle last year, I am faster, I have no braking problems, I am not likely to fall every time I brake. Now, it’s clear.”

A “horrible” sprint for Acosta

On these positive words relating to this choice, however, a bitter observation, that of a sprint largely spoiled by a set of factors: a small starting position after failed qualifications, the choice of the tender tire which put in difficulty most of the pilots which had selected it, and especially the return of vibrations.

Qualifying his race as “horrible”, The Spaniard regretted having chosen this tire, but he rained even more against this chatter who returned his life complicated, so much so that he said he had had “The two wheels of the motorcycle [qui] rise up “. “It was not the best tire choice, but it is not limited to that. We have a lot of vibrations, so much that they leave the frame”, he explained then, stressing that the problem increased over time: “On a tour, we can accept it, we hang on and that’s it. On a ten or 22 laps race, that’s something else.”

Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder experienced a particularly complicated sprint.

Photo de: KTM Images

And Acosta to ensure that this problem concerns all KTM pilots, regardless of the configuration of their motorcycle: “We have to look at where this chatting comes from, because it does not touch my motorcycle, it is the four KTMs that have this problem.”

“I don’t explain it to myself, I don’t have an answer”, he admitted. “Last year, I piloted exactly the same motorcycle as the one I have today and I didn’t have to chat at the back. […] In the end, these are four different motorcycles, with different settings, and I cannot say where it comes from. It is in the hands of the factory, they must do analyzes … PDF, PowerPoint, whatever, and they get answers. I don’t have a logical response in mind. “

Sunday, Acosta again appeared much more positive after having won eighth place, and above all to have been much more spared by these vibrations. “Much better! We can estimate that it was an acceptable race, without either that it was good. I left from quite far, I finished the first 14th round and it was not easy to go up, to have a clear track in front of me to be able to be fast. But it is completely the same sensations as last year, without chatting or anything. We show that when we don’t have too many problems, we can be quick.”

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Greeting the work of his team, however, he emphasized the still quite mysterious effects. “We just took the track today and the chat had disappeared. I do not know what happened, if it was due to the choice of tire of the day or what, but in any case, it was great to pilot the motorcycle like that”, Added Acosta, admitting his desire to understand what led to such a radical improvement in order to prevent these movements from being able to reappear.

However, there was a modification on his motorcycle, without being able to explain if it was decisive. “We tried to eliminate vibrations by changing my position on the motorcycle”, he explained. “On the other hand, these changes have moved me away from the handlebars, which has a lot of demand for my forearms”, He added, evoking a concern that has already embarrassed him in Argentina, although he was put at the time on the account of his equipment.

Inspiring performance at Viñales

Despite this final top 10, it would take more so that Pedro Acosta can really rejoice. He knows that his distant starting position cost him dearly. The performance of Maverick Viñales, however, inspires it and, while retaining the motorcycle he has now been formed, he hopes to succeed in imitating it soon.

“I want to keep the package I have currently. I felt very comfortable today,” he said on Sunday. “In the end, if we compare my race with that of Maverick, my biggest handicap was my starting position. He had a very good pace and he was fast all weekend, and I would not say that I could have beat him because he really did a great race to try to win. Despite everything, it was a Top 5 day [pour moi] So these are good signals. “

“We know how much Maverick can be fast when everything is to the point. Today, he didn’t have to chat, like me, and these details count. That’s why he did a great race. We have shown, and not that he, that when we have no problems like this chatter, we can be as fast as the others. It is a good signal. I would like it myself but I am also happy.”

Brad Binder finished 14th in the sprint and 13th in the Grand Prix.

Photo of: Honda Racing

For his part, Brad Binder will have had difficulties throughout the weekend. On the handlebars of a motorcycle which did not return to the pieces of 2024 favored by his teammate, the South African experienced a nightmare in the two racing formats.

“It was clearly not the right tire choice, but frankly it was the last of my problems!”, he said after the sprint. “On four times, I went to the other side of the outdoor vibrator and I got out of the track so it was probably the worst race of my life, that’s for sure. It was clearly not a good race.”

“Not much better today”, Added Binder on Sunday. “It was hard. We tried to change certain settings for the race and it was correct, up to the tenth round about when I started to have a huge understeer and to skate a lot. Five laps from the end, the rear tire was cooked.”

Would Binder be tempted by the motorcycle configuration used by Viñales? “To judge by today’s result, I think it’s clearly worth trying!”, he admitted, without saying more about what differs between their two motorcycles. “I have an idea, I know more or less what the differences are compared to.”

“It is really good to see him being efficient. I think our entire project needed a very good result, that’s for sure, so hat to him. It is really cool to see it on the podium. We will clearly be able to learn a lot of lessons from your day to move forward.”

After this trying weekend, the boss of the factory team also wanted to settle on the encouraging elements to remember. “It was a difficult start to the season, but I must say that in Austin and Qatar too, we have made progress. It is important to obtain a positive result to keep faith and motivation, because in the race, there are ups and downs,” comments Aki Ajo.

“We saw this weekend that we were going ahead and I think we can do it again when we are back in Europe. Even if the day on Saturday was difficult, we have remained positive about possible performance and today, we have proven that we are on the right track in terms of development and that the pilots feel better and more confident on the motorcycle.”

Avec Orol Puigdemont et germán Garcia Casanova