KTM boss Pit Beirer says the Austrian marque's difficult second year in MotoGP was “normal” for a “rookie in the class”, and says injury for its riders meant the team was unable properly prove itself.
KTM stepped up to MotoGP last year and managed to finish second-from-last in the manufacturers' table with 69 points, though only exceeded this by three in 2018 despite Pol Espargaro securing a debut podium in Valencia.
Espargaro and test rider Mika Kallio were both hit with mid-season injuries – the latter ruled out until next year – coming at a time when KTM brought “almost a new bike” to run, which Beirer says stopped KTM from achieving stronger results.
“When we stepped into MotoGP we didn't expect an easy road,” Beirer said prior to the final race.
“So this was just, I would say, a normal MotoGP year for a rookie, still a rookie in the class. Things went pretty good for us in the beginning, then we brought many new parts, almost a new bike to Sachsenring.
“We set up the bike, we were first in the warm-up on Sunday morning. But then Pol crashed in that races, he came back to Brno, he injured himself. He came back to Aragon and he injured himself again.
“The same weekend in Sachserning Mika got injured. So we had so many new parts on the agenda to test, to race and we could not bring it to the race track, and crucially we could not bring it to better results.
“So, all in all I'm really happy how the team is working, just we couldn't prove on the track where we are.
“I have to agree it was a difficult year, but if you set up with such a fantastic team, you have great riders but they are sitting at home injured, you cannot perform.”
As well as securing Johann Zarco to join Espargaro at the works team next year, KTM will support the satellite Tech3 squad, which Beirer believes will put the project “on another level”.
“We see this project as a long-term project, so it was always clear we could not reach very crazy things in the first two years, and we are exactly on the road where we want to be,” he added.
“We could prove in the first two years that we take it very seriously, and that we have a great staff and a great team to prepare the next step.
“We got riders like Joahnn, who gave us the trust already very early. We have Dani [Pedrosa] coming over as a test rider, so if we did not work so professionally, they would not have given us this trust.
“So this is already a little pay back, but this will put the project on another level.
“Getting the Tech3 team over with Herve [Poncheral] and all his team and all the experience in this class will make us stronger, and from there we have to go.”
