KTM’s leading MotoGP factory rider Pedro Acosta has told media his RC16 is “spectacular in the rain” ahead of a French Grand Prix that has a literal cloud hanging over it.
“In the rain, this bike is spectacular,” Acosta declared in his native Spanish on Thursday at Le Mans. “It’s the best conditions [for] the bike, in the water.”
That bodes well given the weather forecast in that part of France, which suggests not only a repeat of last year’s wet Sunday race but also a partially wet Saturday.
But while rain may be Acosta’s best chance of breaking his grand prix victory duck, both KTM factory riders were optimistic that the Austrian marque would be more competitive in the dry than it has been so far this season.
Acosta and his team-mate Brad Binder pointed to progress made at the Jerez test that followed the last round of the championship in Spain. They will be looking for a dry Friday in order to confirm the apparent step in a comparable situation.
“I’m quite excited to get started here,” said Binder. “After the test in Jerez we found some things that felt a little bit better. So [it will be] pretty cool to see if it works well here.”
Binder missed a golden opportunity to win the sprint last time out at Jerez, when he crashed out of the effective lead after the rain came down. But while rain has been a factor in some of his previous successes, he reiterated that he wouldn’t be relying on that in France following the latest updates.
“I’m not worried about what the conditions throw at us,” said the South African. “I think we can do a good job either way.
“One area we improved was a little bit more just the calmness of the bike, especially on throttle. We could keep the grip a little bit better and, yeah, we did something to be a little bit cleaner in the braking areas. So I still wasn’t able to go super fast with it, but yeah, it felt better.
“So yeah, [I’m] quietly confident for this weekend and hopefully we can have a good one.”
Pedro Acosta, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing
Photo by: Gold and Goose Photography / LAT Images / via Getty Images
In his English media briefing, Acosta echoed Binder’s sentiments regarding the progress made at Jerez.
“KTM has brought some updates from the Jerez test. It’s quite important [that] we do some runs in the dry.
“I think [the updates are] nothing visual, to be honest. These are small things that will help for turning and to be more stable because at Jerez I suffered.
“I knew that I was going to suffer [at Jerez], but I was not expecting [to suffer] that much. It looks like in the test everything came back to the point and everything started to work quite OK.”
Acosta has gathered two podiums so far this season, in Thailand and the USA, as well as victory in the Buriram sprint. Binder has generally continued to battle in relation to his colleague, with a best result of seventh.
Additional reporting by German Garcia Casanova
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