What Still Needs to Be Done by KTM, Despite Its Strong Start in Portimao?

RiderTua.com – What does KTM still have to work on even though its team in Portimao got strong results?.. Three KTM RC16s in the Portugal race were in the top 5, but that also has something to do with luck (some racers crashed).. but overall not easy for Brad Binder and Jack Miller

For KTM’s program in the premier class motorbike world championship, the Portuguese race in Portimao was considered a success, especially in terms of the results of the race on Sunday. The weekend overall was not an easy one for KTM’s MotoGP program itself.

Factory KTM riders Brad Binder and Jack Miller finished fourth and fifth in the main race on Sunday. With P4, Binder is not the best positioned racer in the RC16. Because it belonged to Pedro Acosta (Tech3-GasGas) who managed to be on the podium (P-3). On his way to the first podium of his MotoGP career, Acosta overtook Miller and Binder among others on Sunday.

What still needs to be done by KTM, despite its strong start in Portimao?

“Congratulations to Pedro… This is a good sign that the materials are working well and that we have a good bike that is suitable for a different style of racing. As a manufacturer, we can be satisfied with our work so far,” said KTM team manager Francesco Guidotti. Yes, the gap could have been smaller and the riders’ overall riding experience could have been better, but they scored important points, said Guidotti after three KTM RC16s entered the top 5.

How are the two factory KTM riders behind Pedro Acosta performing? According to Binder, to be honest, this was a very difficult weekend. Every time he wanted to push the motorbike, he had problems because the front wheel threatened to slip. And every time he opened the throttle, he felt a vibration so he had difficulty accelerating out of corners, Brad Binder said.

“The fact that I came fourth in the race was also down to luck,” Binder admitted openly. The South African was referring to the fact that without the collision between Ducati riders Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez and without the gearbox failure on Maverick Vinales’ Aprilia, he might have only finished seventh. Binder even spoke openly about a bad weekend that ended quite well.

Meanwhile, Jack Miller, who finished fifth on Sunday, one place behind Binder despite starting five places ahead of him, said… “It’s OK. I tried to stay with the guys in front of me as best I could, but I couldn’t. The pace was exactly the same as I did in the sprint. I had problems especially in the last sector on Sunday and lost a lot of time..” he said..

Similar to Binder, Miller explained the problem of less than optimal traction when exiting corners. When accelerating from the penultimate corner to entering the final corner, the Australian racer should have used better grip. They have to fix it. Overall…because this is still a positive weekend where the team has improved in all areas. KTM can now build on these results. They have a fantastic bike that has a lot of potential. The team just has to try to really get maximum results, continued Miller.

As good as KTM’s results were on Sunday, things got worse on Saturday, especially for Brad Binder. In the sprint, he fell at Turn 13 when he was in seventh position and had to retire. He crashed at exactly the same corner in qualifying a few hours earlier.

As a consequence, Binder had to spend his Q2 riding a spare motorbike. In this case the problem is: the tires have no performance at all so there is no traction, he said. Therefore, Binder was only tenth on the starting grid for both races (Sprint and Sunday’s main race), while Miller started the race in fifth and Acosta in seventh.

In the current 2024 MotoGP overall standings, Brad Binder is still second in the World Championship despite getting zero points on Saturday, but is now behind Jorge Martin who replaced Francesco Bagnaia at the top of the standings. Jack Miller is ninth in the standings, while Pedro Acosta is already fifth in the World Championship after his first podium finish.

Acosta’s Tech3 teammate Augusto Fernandez scored his first points of the season at Portimao in Sunday’s race. However, he is currently still outside the top 15 in the drivers’ standings.