Tech3 KTM MotoGP boss Herve Poncharal believes riders Danilo Petrucci and Iker Lecuona only need to make one more step forward in terms of setup to begin challenging for top-ten spots.
The Frenchman, who goes to his home race at Le Mans this weekend, says both men now have more of an understanding of what their satellite RC16 needs in terms of setup after a one-day test at Jerez.
“I believe the circuit is going to be quite interesting for our KTM RC16 machine. Last year with Miguel and Iker we have been pretty fast in both, dry and wet conditions, which is important because it looks like it’s going to be wet this year," said Poncharal.
"Clearly, after the positive step we made in Jerez I’m expecting both, Danilo and Iker to make another step this weekend. We need to carry on pushing with both in order to give the right feedback to the KTM engineers and we need to qualify better.”
“Our target is to have at least one rider inside the top 10, but also to be as close as we can to Miguel and Brad, who are the benchmark inside the KTM family and there is no reason for our two guys not to catch up with them. The grid is incredibly close. In FP3 in Jerez the top 10 have been separated by just 0.2 seconds, which is showing the competitiveness of this class. We are not lost, we just need to make another small step forward to be fighting for the top like last year.”
“The test we did on Monday in Jerez was for sure a help for our riders in order to feel better on the bike and although we didn’t find anything very special I think both, Danilo and Iker understood a bit better how to ride and setup their machines with the current 2021 environment.”
“If it’s wet this weekend, it will be interesting to see how our bike and the whole grid is performing in these conditions. With Danilo we have the last MotoGP rain winner, so let’s hope to repeat that performance in Le Mans in case it’s wet again on Sunday. I really hope Danilo will find his magic rain riding with the KTM as well. Le Mans is always a very special event and I’m quite sure Claude Michy, the organizer has reserved some interesting surprises for us.”
