Four years ago KTM entered the MotoGP class. After successful years in Moto3 and Moto2, the royal class of the motorcycle world championship should now be tackled. KTM withdrew from Moto2 last year to concentrate more on MotoGP. Especially as last year was a turbulent year. The separation from Johann Zarco during the current season, made many headlines. A lot has been written and probably only half of it is true. We do not know what happened. But you can notice with Zarco that for him the orange motorcycles are still a red rag. Or how can we explain the two incidents with Pol Espargaro in Jerez in FP1 and FP2? Once again both riders met on the track and once again Espargaro was left behind.
Pol Espargaro prevailed against WRC leader Farbio Quartararo and was third when he made a mistake in turn 13 and lost his place to Johann Zarco. The Ducati customer rider was fast with his soft front tyres, but not as fast as the Spaniard. Espargaro caught up quickly and wanted to use the gap to overtake. But Zarco pulled inside and so the KTM rider crashed. The reaction of the Spaniard spoke volumes. The race commission saw Zarco’s mistake and punished him with a Drive Through penalty. A very small penalty for an action which prevented a supposed double victory for KTM. It’s also a pity that Zarco didn’t even realize it. We don’t want to accuse him of anything, but the action has a little taste anyway, especially considering the history.
But wait, did I just write double? Yes! KTM has celebrated its first MotoGP victory. A well-deserved victory. A victory that shows how much this team, this manufacturer, has worked for the last four years. KTM has always questioned everything. Has always worked hard. They won, and they did it with a rookie. Brad Binder replaced Zarco last year and this year he won. It was a well-deserved victory. For the manufacturer. For the team. For Brad Binder. We can’t wait to see what’s coming.
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