Tech3 KTM MotoGP chief Herve Poncharal has given rider Iker Lecuona a public dressing down over his championship performance so far and saying the youngster has ‘lost his sparkle’

The Spaniard took a single point at Portimao where works rider Brad Binder bagged fifth place despite the problems the RC16 has with the softer front Michelin.

“Iker, I would say, the only positive is that we got one point, but honestly, I don’t know what to say at the moment. I’m lost for words and I think he is lost for everything,” said Poncharal.

“When I remember Iker at the very beginning last year, he was full of energy, sometimes doing mistakes, but pushing. This year for some reason there is nothing that works, there is no sparkle. So, yes, we got a point, but very, very far down.”

We need to talk, we need to debrief. We saw KTM is competitive. Brad Binder ended up fifth, I think 1.8 seconds to P2, which is another strong performance after Qatar. So clearly, the bike is there.

“We don’t want to talk too much about technical things. We need to give our riders a better feeling, we need to make them a bit hungrier and let’s hope that will happen in Jerez, which is the fourth round of the Championship. It is already the fourth round and everybody needs to wake up and push.”

In his own defence, Lecuona said: "I tried a lot of things, a lot of basic set-ups. I would have expected things to go better in the race because I actually felt better in qualifying and had improved.

"In the first three or four laps I almost fell six times. I couldn't go with the group in front of me, I drove alone. To be honest, I didn't even follow the lap times on the scoreboard, I just tried to finish the race.

'I had a lot of problems with the front tyre all weekend. It wasn't the best race or the best result. It's been the worst race for me in the MotoGP class. I have to go home now, press the reset button and rest for Jerez."