Pit Beirer – KTM begins very well in tests in Austria. Pit Beirer, KTM Motorsport Director, is very happy about it. “We are pleased with what we did.” In addition, Kallio will debut with a wild-card in Valencia, in the last round of the 2016 MotoGP World Championship.
Yesterday, the new Red Bull KTM factory team was the big surprise of the first MotoGP’s fist day test at Spielberg, in Styria. Mika Kallio and Luthi were customers very uncomfortable for Honda and Ducati. The best teams in the test. Kallio lost only 1.002 seconds from Valentino Rossi. A very impressive performance. Radar measurements of the team revealed that the KTM has a top speed in the uphill section between curves 1 and 3. Between 300-301 mph, faster than the Honda. However, the best Ducati reached the legendary speed of 311 kilometers per hour. The Aprilia arrived “only” to a modest 289 km/h.
Pit Beirer: “Nothing is Impossible“
“Now, we are also happy. Because we get great in MotoGP.” said Pit Beirer. “We had a first test-work without major problems. It is not an impossible task to provide a decent performance to start the 2017 season. At the beginning, we were nervous. However, now we are happy. We were curious to see what will bring this first day.” About the debut of Valencia, Pit Beirer says: “We will have to work to make the bike better. More stable under acceleration. Now depends on development. We still have a lot of parts that we want to try to fix.”
Also Mika Kallio confirmed that the KTM MotoGP will make its race debut as a wildcard in Valencia, at the end of the 2016 season. It’s been known for some time that KTM would take part in the GP of Spain, just like the Suzuki did before his return 2015. The Finn confirmed the agreement after testing alongside current MotoGP riders the new bike. Kallio closed 16° to 2,292 s from the Austrian test’s leader.
