KTM aiming high for 2022 MotoGP season after indifferent 2021
KTM targets greater consistency for its 2022 MotoGP World Championship campaign with an unchanged rider line-up of Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing says it is its primary aim to be consistently fighting for the MotoGP podium in 2022 after its encouraging results were let down by indifferent form in 2021.
After breaking through during the condensed 2020 MotoGP campaign with three wins, eight podiums and fifth overall for Pol Espargaro, the Austrian manufacturer won two races (Miguel Oliveira in Barcelona and Brad Binder in Austria) and four podiums last season.
Moreover, while metronomically solid results for Binder allowed the South African to end the year sixth overall, the second best-placed KTM rider across the factory and satellite Tech 3 teams was Oliveira in 14th.
Indeed, the 2021 evolution of the RC16 suffered with poor consistency, while an injury for Oliveira that hampered him throughout the second-half of the season.
Speaking at the launch of KTM’s 2022 MotoGP campaign, which revealed a familiar livery to that of previous years, KTM Motorsport Director Pit Beirer says the target is to string the stronger results together more regularly.
"When you start a project like this in MotoGP you want to win a race one day and to say that sounds quite simple but to actually do it is such an incredible effort from so many people involved.
“We did it. It’s on paper, but we also had to learn it the hard way; you win one weekend in that class but the next weekend you are fighting to qualify for Q2 because it is just so tight..
"The target for us now is to be there consistently every weekend, get in that top five and fight for the podium at the end of season standings. That must be the goal for this season.
“I know it is a very high one because the other manufacturers have ambitious targets as well but we are strong now: we have the team, the base, the bike and we have the riders.”
While there is no chance of rider in the Factory team, there has been a major change behind the scenes with KTM hiring Francesco Guidotti from Pramac Ducati.
