Jerez wraps first crucial mid-season MotoGP™ IRTA test

2022 MotoGP IRTA test

Over 150 laps were clocked between Brad Binder, Miguel Oliveira and Remy Gardner as Raul Fernandez missed the test session due to a consequence of his injured right hand; the problem had forced his absence from the Grand Prix race the previous day.
 
Binder marked his quickest time midway through his testing run although the South African also suffered a crash into Turn 7 due to the gusty conditions. Binder, like his teammate, continued to refine the base set-up on the KTM RC16 for the rest of the 2022 season. He also experimented with a brand new Akrapovic exhaust. Oliveira trialled varying aerodynamic options while Gardner’s work was prematurely ended after a fall left the strong Australian with a sore back and hand.


 
MotoGP now pauses for a week before the SHARK Grand Prix de France at Le Mans on May 14-15.
 
Brad Binder: “We tried a new pipe today and the guys can now go back and see the full extent of the difference. I liked the sound! Importantly the power delivery of the bike was a bit stronger but with the KTM RC16 we haven’t really lacked anything in that regard. We’ll keep working with it. Otherwise we played with our base setup and trying to improve rear contact with the braking point. I’m happy that we managed to make some progress.”
 
Miguel Oliveira: “A long day. We’ve had a few issues when we put new tires on the bike so we couldn’t really confirm everything that we were testing with performance and speed. We found one or two things that we believe could be good for Le Mans. We’ll go there with an open mind.”
 
Francesco Guidotti, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “We’ve been continuing our base setting work here. Since we changed our method to go racing we needed to maintain this line but we also had a few new things. It was tricky because it seemed to get windier as the day went on and that meant it was difficult to make comparisons to what we experienced in the race. Brad made some good laps and discoveries and Miguel also found some interesting things that will be helpful for analysis. We will go to Le Mans confident and then we’ll anticipate some new parts at the next test in Barcelona.”
 
Sebastian Risse, Red Bull KTM Technical Manager MotoGP: “The test went really well but we still have to work out the full evaluation of our progress because the conditions were so different today compared to the race weekend here; that’s quite common at Jerez. So, we need to see how our work can translate to other tracks. We looked at many areas of the bike, around the engine, an exhaust, aerodynamic options and quite a lot of base set-up work. It will be interesting to see what we can carry over to Le Mans.”
 
Jerez Official IRTA Test
 
1. Johann Zarco (FRA), Ducati 1:37.136
2. Brad Binder (RSA) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +0.158
3. Fabio Quartararo (FRA), Yamaha +0.302
4. Jack Miller (AUS) Ducati +0.320
5. Pol Espargaro (ESP) Honda +0.420
21. Miguel Oliveira (POR) Red Bull KTM Factory Racing +1.183
22. Remy Gardner (AUS) Tech3 KTM Factory Racing +1.453
 
Contact:
Press & PR Manager
Sebastian Kuhn
+43 676 599 0084
sebastian.kuhn@ktm.com