MotoGP mid-season report: ‘Bittersweet start’ at KTM for Guidotti

Francesco Guidotti may only have been at the helm of KTM for half a season but it’s been rollercoaster six months so far.

A podium for Brad Binder at Qatar’s inaugural race followed by victory at Mandalika for Miguel Olivera seemed to indicate the RC-16 was a contender for 2022 but with the pair only managing one fifth place apiece as their next highest result, the early success was short-lived.

“I mean, it’s a sweet and bitter start of the season,” Guidotti admitted at the halfway stage. “I mean, the start was really stunning, but then we faced some difficulties in some circuits.

“In the last five races, we performed pretty well. Our race results have been affected more from the qualifying, where we have to improve our performance, but the race pace is good and the effort of the riders… they are fully committed.

“We are now focused on how to improve our performance in qualifying to be more competitive during the race. We saw, where we’ve been able to start on the first row, we were able to fight for the podium, so this will be they key for performing better in the next races.”

“We also changed the way of working in the garage a little bit, the method of working from last year, so it’s some automatic that has to be more easy for the technicians in general,” he continued on the team’s steps forward. “We have to improve only qualifying, and then we will know better where we really are in the race.”

While the KTM factory line-up has already been announced - with Miguel Oliveira departing the Austrian manufacturer in favour of Jack Miller - the satellite team has yet to be confirmed. 2022 saw both Moto2 Champion Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez promoted from the intermediate class after a stunning battle for the title last