Why KTM MotoGP riders remain optimistic ahead of Italian GP

The factory KTM MotoGP riders are quietly optimistic ahead of the Italian Grand Prix following their productive test day at Aragon.

Pedro Acosta discussed the hope in the KTM camp after Aragon while outlining the aspirations for the upcoming weekend.

“Aragon was the first GP of the season where we were quite strong,” said Acosta. “OK, we weren’t able to fight for the podium, but we were able to make some passes at the beginning of the races and more or less maintain the pace.

“Last year here was quite okay, it’s true that Pecco [Bagnaia], Marc [Marquez], Jorge [Martin], and [Enea] Bastianini were on another level but let’s try.

“At the end of the day we need to put our target to make a weekend like Aragon, to be as close to the podium as possible and if we can fight at the beginning of the race, this will be a good weekend already.”

Even though KTM had plenty of new bits to try at Aragon, Acosta maintains it’s tough to make a judgment.

“I was quite happy after the Aragon test but it’s quite difficult after a test to take a clear conclusion because the track is much better than during the weekend,” said Acosta.

“But anyway, let’s see. I think something new we can use here, but nothing outstanding to solve our problems for this [weekend]. Let’s see if we can make a weekend like Aragon where we were constant and on top and let’s see where we can arrive in Sunday’s race.”

Even though he only scored one point at Aragon, Brad Binder was encouraged by the pace shown at the Motorland circuit and believes Mugello could also be a good track for the Austrian manufacturer.

“Aragon was a better weekend for us so I expect things to go pretty decently here,” said Binder. “Honestly, I think a faster-flowing track could be good for us and I’m excited to get started.

“We found some small things that seemed to give us a bit of extra margin during the Aragon test. Now we’re going to put them all together here. The plan is we’re going to start how we finished there and then we can start to work on our set-up and just fine-tune things as we go along.”

The KTM is a missile down the straights and is strong under braking but continues to suffer from traction problems and poor turn-in abilities. Binder hopes the aero changes will give a slight improvement to both these areas.

Brad Binder, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

Photo by: Rob Gray / Polarity Photo

“This weekend we’re going to start with a little bit different aero stuff,” explained Binder. “Nothing massive but it seemed to make things a bit safer on the front and give us a bit more margin on both wheels.

“It requires a little bit of a different set-up than what we’re currently using. The goal is to start off straight away like that and get to work.”