Things 'look a lot worse than the reality' for KTM

Having won three MotoGP races last year, few expected there would not be a single KTM inside the top 15 by the end of 2021 pre-season testing in Qatar.

Newly promoted factory team signing Miguel Oliveira was KTM's highest placed rider in 16th, directly behind class rookies Jorge Martin and Enea Bastianini and 1.343s from the best lap time of Ducati's Jack Miller.

Team-mate and fellow KTM MotoGP race winner Brad Binder was one place further back from Oliveira, with Tech3 riders Danilo Petrucci 19th (+1.712s) and Iker Lecuona 23rd (+2.012s).

Race pace is harder to read, especially with the final day sandstorm preventing many of the scheduled long runs, but even KTM's quickest man Oliveira looked half-a-second off the likes of the Monster Yamahas.

On the other hand, there had only been one KTM rider inside the top 14 at the same test last season, in the form of then rookie Binder in ninth. The South African is sure the current reality is not as bad as it appears on the timesheets.

"It was unfortunate to lose the final day, we did have quite a few things that we really wanted to get through. But it's not the end of the world," said Binder of the Friday sandstorm.

"I believe things look a lot worse on paper than they are in reality or will be on the race weekend.

"It has been a little bit challenging for us KTMs here. It's a little bit this layout, it doesn't quite suit us too well. But nevertheless we have good ideas and I'm sure we're going to get much closer to the front than we are at the moment.

"We ended up losing today and we had about three more items to try, but they were all positive for our test team so I think we're quite safe to try them over the race weekend.

"We also lost a lot of track time here with me falling off! So a little bit disappointed with that! For the life of me I couldn’t stay on for the first three days, but yesterday I completed a day without crashing so that was great! I only see positives from here.

"I always find race weekends are so different, when you've only got 45 minutes to go out and do all the work. It's a whole different approach, which I definitely prefer. So I'm really looking forward to getting back here.

"It's safe to say we do have a little bit of work to do for sure. But I'm confident we'll get I right.

"This time last year, okay I had a strong last day for a one-off lap, but other than that there wasn't much there. I was still quite worried because I was quite slow at almost all the tests and then as soon as we got to Jerez things got better.

"This year I'm definitely going into Qatar a lot more confident and understand the class and bike much better. All in all it's just more of a relaxed feeling."

Oliveira added: "We will have to see what's possible during the GP weekend, but for sure it is much better than what we have [done] at the moment.

"We need to look at the bright side, which is that we had four very good days [for track conditions] and we got a lot of work out of the way. So it was a productive test, even if there was not enough to work on the performance side of things."

One performance issue for KTM is related to the Losail tyre allocation.

"These ones are actually kind of on the soft side. It's true that we have a dual compound in the front, that in my opinion doesn't have good feedback," said double Tech3 race winner Oliveira.

"But it's what we have to work with and it's always difficult to bring tyres to Qatar which please everyone. So let's see how it goes in the race weekend."

KTM's testing performance grated with winter gossip that the Austrian factory could make a bigger step than its rivals since it is able to change engine design for 2021, as it transitions out of the Concession rules.

However, the loss of Concessions also means KTM are allowed less engine changes, and - judging by the top speed charts - their winter work seems to have been focussed on maintaining performance over the added mileage, rather than gaining performance.

"For sure on the engine side we are a little bit more tight because now obviously we need to do a first season with a limited number of engines, but the new engine spec was also designed in that way, so we could have long-lasting material," Oliveira said.

"But anyway, there was not any past history with engine problems with KTM. So not worried at all, I think the guys are also quite happy, quite relaxed about the work they have done, and everybody is feeling confident about the start of the season."

With Qatar cancelled for the MotoGP class last season, KTM's best Losail result is a 12th place by Pol Espargaro in 2019.