Once again, rear tire wear proves to be KTM’s weakness – Pedro Acosta misses out on the podium despite tire management – Four riders, one common problem
Pedro Acosta took third place in the sprint in Australia. The KTM rider also fought at the front of the pack in the Grand Prix, but was unable to secure a podium finish over the long distance. The Spaniard held second place until halfway through the race, but was overtaken in the final stages and eventually finished fifth.
“I wouldn’t call this race frustrating, but it’s tough when you manage your tires throughout the race and still end up in the same position as if you hadn’t managed them at all,” said Acosta, identifying the underlying problem.
Tire degradation was significant for all four KTM riders and was the decisive factor. “That’s something you have to question: why are all four KTMs with four different riders and four different riding styles losing so much grip – even when we manage it?”
“If you say, ‘Hey Pedro, ride 27 laps at full throttle,’ then I understand where I’ll end up or how bad the result could be. But if I ride the whole race at 70 percent of my potential and still fall into this hole, then it’s difficult to understand.“
Nevertheless, Acosta is relatively satisfied with fifth place, because, according to him, Phillip Island is his personally weakest track. Still, he says: ”I was pretty convinced it was going to be a good day. But I managed.”
“I rode behind Raul for a long time to control the pressure on the front wheel. When you ride behind, you also use less rear tire because you ride more smoothly—because of the heat build-up and all that.”
“But I ended up in exactly the same position as in the past three weeks. KTM has to take a step now. I’m really giving it my all. I’ve now found my consistency in the top 5. I’m trying not to make any mistakes.”
At the finish line, Acosta was eight seconds behind and was able to keep Honda rider Luca Marini at bay in the final laps. The other KTM riders, Brad Binder, Enea Bastianini, and Pol Espargaro, finished in eighth to tenth place in that order.
KTM got the problem under control in Europe
Tire management was also a big issue for them. At the start of the season, tire management over the race distance was a problem for KTM. But over the course of the European season, KTM seemed to have got the problem under control.
“Yes,” says Espargaro, “it seems that we have got the situation under control in Europe. We have more data on the tracks there, and the bike’s behavior is, let’s say, more natural, more controllable.”
“But outside Europe, where we don’t have enough data, things slip out of our control and happen in ways we can’t predict. Then we don’t understand why – and we’re a little stuck.“
”We at KTM really destroyed the rear tire. From about the middle of the race, four or five laps later, seven or eight laps before the end, the tire was finished,“ notes the test rider. ”I understand Pedro very well. It’s frustrating.”
“But we need to understand how much each rider is giving – that last ten percent limit – and how everyone is riding to understand why the tire wear is coming so early and what decisions we need to make for the future.”
Despite this problem, all four KTM riders finished in the top 10. Binder and Bastianini also noted that their rear tires were completely worn out too early, even though they managed the wear from the start.
Aki Ajo: “Back to reality”
KTM team manager Aki Ajo says: “In general, we should be satisfied that all four riders finished in the top 10 – that’s positive. But to be honest, we’re not happy with the race.”
“We need to understand why our performance dropped off in the second half. The tire life was a little worse than expected. The weekend got off to a difficult start on Friday, but things improved significantly with the sprint on Saturday.“
”On Sunday, we were brought back down to earth with a bump. Having one rider in fifth place and all of them in the top 10 is positive, but we need to learn more from the conditions we encountered in the race.”
In the manufacturer standings, KTM has lost further ground to Aprilia in second place. With three race weekends remaining before the end of the season, the Italian brand has a 47-point lead in the World Championship.
