Just days after pulling Iker Lecuona's pants down in public, Tech3 KTM boss Herve Poncharal has demanded 'real improvement' from the young Spaniard and veteran MotoGP team-mate Danilo Petrucci.

So far, the two have struggled to gain points finishes in the opening three races, amassing a total of four between them while Brad Binder took fifth place at Portimao on identical equipment.

“The Spanish Grand Prix in Jerez is always very special race. It used to be first European round of season. This year it will be the second one, but it’s anyway always a very special race on a special track and of course I believe the whole paddock as well as the Tech3 KTM Factory Racing team is very much looking forward to this event," said Poncharal.

“Concerning Tech3 KTM Factory Racing, we obviously hope that we can do another step forward after the better result in Portugal we had compared to Qatar. Yet, we still haven’t been competitive enough in Portimao.

“We had two races back to back in Jerez last year and we have some interesting data from 2020. Hopefully, both Danilo and Iker will feel more at ease on the bike.

"We got to work with the package we have, with the tyre allocation we have and clearly, we could see especially with Brad Binder in the last race, that our package with the current tyre allocation can work well.

“Hopefully we can see a clear improvement for Danilo and Iker. I also know that we have a test on Monday following the GP, which will be very important as we could only test in Qatar prior to the season. I know that KTM, Michelin and Tech3 have quite few things to try.”