While the most interesting parts of the KTM launch were related to the personnel changes and the shift from purely technical focus to human (see a full review here), factory riders Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira were still fascinated by the weakness of the KTM RC16 for 2021 and what they wanted to fix for 2022.
What the drivers mostly lacked was a bit of Consistency, Miguel Oliveira said. “At several key moments of the championship, I could not finish the race. Two great examples; Austria-race 2 and Misano-race 2, where the result could have been quite good.”KTM paid for this lack of consistency in the final stretch, left too many points on the table and made a championship campaign difficult.
“The other thing is the consistency of the results, finishing the races pays off very much at the end of the championship. And that, of course, is the main reason why I think consistency needs to be improved,” Oliveira stressed. The Portuguese driver’s season felt like a roller coaster ride. “I found that my Season was too spicy, either the result was very, very good or very bad. I could never do the average, and that’s the average I’m looking for.”
Gaining consistency, smoothing out these results was the key. “I would say this balance that I want to find more with the bike. When I felt good with the bike, I was very fast and I could give very good results. But when I didn’t feel good with the bike, I just couldn’t ride on average and that’s what my Season is really not-found.”Brad Binder took advantage of the winter break to reflect on what he thought the 2021 RC16 was not-found and how he drove it. “It’s always good when we’ve had an off-season. Gives you time to figure out where you need to improve. Not only on the bike side, more on the side of my driving.”
For Binder, the problem was getting out of the corners. “On the motorcycle side, I would really like a little more traction. That would be great. If we turn a little less at the exit of the turn, it would be a long way for us.”The South African also wanted to improve the braking.
“Two areas that we would like to work on are The shutdown and as soon as I turn on the gas so as not to turn right away. To try to keep the traction better and get out of the corners better.”He knew that part of the improvement could come from his driving style,” Binder admitted.
“As a Driver, I can definitely improve if I keep my lines a little narrower,” he said. His problem was driving lines that went too far, not placing the corners at a V.
“On a lap, I’m running too many meters and I’m not tight enough in the corners. That’s one thing I want to improve. There are many things that we still need to improve, but this is one thing that immediately comes to mind.”