KTM: Our job to convince Raul Fernandez to stay with us
KTM motorsports director Pit Beirer insists there are no hard feelings over some 'heat of the moment' comments by Raul Fernandez last season and the factory remains determined to convince Fernandez his MotoGP future is best served by staying 'orange'.
Fernandez battled KTM Ajo team-mate Remy Gardner for the Moto2 title until the final round as a rookie last season, prompting MotoGP interest from the likes of Yamaha and Aprilia for 2022.
But KTM already had first call on Fernandez's services and he was duly announced as joining Gardner in moving to the premier-class with Tech3 despite, at times, the 21-year-old appearing somewhat 'unenthusiastic' about the move.
"It's something we cannot write down, how people feel, how long they should stay with us. We are just working very hard. I mean, we put our heart on the table for our riders and do everything to make them happy," said Beirer, a former motocross grand prix rider.
"With Raul there was a lot of talk, and he's a very young guy, he grew up on the track so quickly, they don't have a chance as young guys to get a normal development like other young people.
"Every time they take their helmet off, there is a camera, there is a microphone, there are many people who ask them questions. Sometimes we put a heartrate measurement on the boys, sometimes you see on TV some calm riders, but some of them have a heartrate of 180bpm permanently the whole race.
"Then they get in front of a camera, 'what about this and that?' Wham! They say something, and that's the headline. Raul is such a nice guy but he's very emotional, very hot, and it's our job to convince him that the best place to stay is where he is right now, with us."
Although KTM won the battle for Fernandez's services in 2022, there are rumours that Fernandez's talks with Yamaha might only have been put on pause and could soon be restarted for 2023.
Meanwhile, it wasn't only the MotoGP move which caused some public friction between Fernandez and KTM, the eight-time Moto2 race winner appearing to suggest in an end-of-season interview that the Ajo team had favoured Gardner.
"When you have two fantastic riders going for the same target, there is some friction," said Beirer. "This is something we had to learn already as a group in many disciplines. If you have champions and they want to win, they go far. And at the end, they just try to bring the team on their side.
"But we as a manufacturer, or team, or there especially on Aki Ajo's side, we just tried to help all of these boys there. They are like our children, and at the end, on the race track they have to fight it out.
"So I think the best thing at that moment was to not comment about anything and to let it calm down a bit.
"Because the boys put so much stress on themselves, and of course two can't win a championship. One guy is super happy because he just won it and the other one lost it, and he was not happy in that moment, this is clear.
"But I can confirm this is all good, because [during the winter] in Austria we had everybody sitting on one table, all four riders and the team managers, so I think that will not be any discussion point.
"But of course, the boys are going to have again the same target, each of them want to be the better one, so let's see what the future brings…"
Fernandez, Gardner and the other 2022 rookies will take part in their first MotoGP race at Qatar next weekend.
That event will also see the Moto2 debut of KTM's next rising star Pedro Acosta.
The reigning Moto3 champion is tipped to replicate Fernandez's rookie Moto2 season heroics after being fastest in pre-season testing and is already being linked with MotoGP in 2023.
