KTM MotoGP Team Manager Francesco Guidotti says that the manufacturer has “very good expectations” for the 2023 season following test rider Dani Pedrosa’s comments after the Sepang shakedown test.
The Austrian brand struggled for outright speed during the lions-share of the ’22 term, with the bulk of the marque’s issues stemming from its RC16 machine lacking grip on new tyres in qualifying and thus meaning its riders more often than not started races well outside the top ten.
The bike’s strong race performance allowed factory riders Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira to usually move forward on Sunday’s though, the latter scoring a pair of impressive wins in inclement conditions while the former ended the year sixth overall having scored a trio of dry-weather rostrums.
Guidotti reckons that KTM has made good ground with the RC16 over the winter, a theory he says was backed up by the comments from Pedrosa’s comments during the shakedown test at the Sepang International Circuit last weekend, leaving the Italian “pretty confident” the RC16 would be featuring towards the front of the field more frequently this year.
“Our three days testing here with Dani (Pedrosa) was really productive, we worked all around the bike,” said Guidotti.
“Aerodynamics, frame, electronics and the engine so we have a very good expectation following Dani’s comments across the last few days, but everything has to be confirmed by the factory riders.
“We are however pretty confident that we will get out something better than we had last year.”
Guidotti added that Binder would be KTM’s “first reference” in the upcoming three-day MotoGP pre-season test at the Sepang venue in Malaysia, the South African the only one of the brand’s four ’23 riders to campaign the machine last season.
“He (Brad Binder) is the first reference, but of course everybody has to try,” continued Guidotti.
“He knows the bike very well and is the only one to have used the KTM last year so for sure he’ll be the first to try the highest priority things, but then we need to double check with Jack (Miller) and Pol (Espargaro).
“We’ll still give some more time to Augusto (Fernandez) to get the right confidence with the bike and new category, but the other three riders will be mainly testing the new parts starting with Brad.”
Keyword: KTM has “very good expectations” for 2023 following shakedown