KTM pointless as Pol forced to park

Bradley Smith was the only KTM rider to reach the finish of the Qatar season opener, in 18th place and 31.7s from victory.

That was eight seconds closer than Smith had been at the same event the previous year, when team-mate Pol Espargaro finished 16th and 33.6s from the front.

KTM pointless as Pol forced to park

Bradley Smith was the only KTM rider to reach the finish of the Qatar season opener, in 18th place and 31.7s from victory.

That was eight seconds closer than Smith had been at the same event the previous year, when team-mate Pol Espargaro finished 16th and 33.6s from the front.

But the Spaniard looked on course for much better this time around, charging from a lowly 22nd on the grid to 15th by the halfway stage of the grand prix.

However, the electrical problem that sunk his hopes in qualifying returned to put him out of the race.

"I felt quite OK. I was fighting for 13th position with Bautista and less than 20 seconds from the top guys," said Espargaro, who missed half of 2018 testing due to a back injury.

"Seeing how the whole weekend went and what we could do towards the end then it was not too bad.

"Again the problem we had on Saturday put us out of the points and out of the race. I think it is just bad luck. I’m completely sure we’ll get this fixed and start again in Argentina.”

Smith was three places behind Espargaro when the #44 retired and already battling front tyre issues.

"I was really happy with the start of the race; I was aggressive and I made up some positions," he said. "I was in the mix and inside the points. For the first ten laps everything was working quite well and then I started to struggle with the front tyre and a lot of understeer and this was not something we had in any of the tests.

"The lap-times slowly dropped off. There were some corners where I was OK and others where I was just losing time. It was frustrating because I put myself in a good position to push along with the front guys. It was good to know more about where the KTM needs to improve by being with the other guys on track.”

“We need to work hard and improve now. We knew this weekend would be tough for us," declared team manager Mike Leitner.

KTM and Aprilia (19th and 20th) were the only manufacturers to leave Qatar without a point.

 

 

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