Passing is supposed to be difficult in MotoGP — if you’re not riding a KTM, that is.
The turnaround of MotoGP’s only Austrian team since its downcast pre-season has been nothing short of remarkable. We were told to expect little from Jack Miller and Brad Binder in Portugal, but after four rounds they’re third and fourth in the championship.
Binder has won two sprint races, and together he and Miller scored the team’s first grand prix double podium in its premier-class history with a superb performance at the Spanish Grand Prix, having collected a double sprint podium the day before.
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The weekend was a brash display of the RB16’s capabilities. Binder and Miller sparred between themselves like old foes rather than teammates, and when Francesco Bagnaia inserted himself into the mix, the battling took on a different dimension.
The Italian was even forced to hand second place back to Miller part of the way through Sunday’s race, such was the aggression required to barge past the Australian on his perfectly suited bike.
And it’s for Miller that these results are so impressive. That’s not to say it’s surprising that the Townsville native has podium-getting and race-winning pace — he’s been there and done that. Rather it’s the fact that he’s taken to a dramatically different bike with far more ease than anyone could have expected.
The transition time from Ducati to KTM has been practically zero. And he’s revelling in it.
“I wanted a new challenge,” he wrote on his website. “I took a chance on myself. People in business do it all the time, and it’s no different here.
“Yes, it can come back to bite you on the arse, but we took a risk, and it feels mega when it comes off. I can’t thank KTM enough.
“To be back here on the podium, to have both those bikes on the podium — I didn’t think it would happen this quickly, so I’m stoked.
“And thanks to the people that doubt us — I love it.”
Expanding on that commentary, Miller said he wasn’t truly comfortably on his previous Ducati bike to begin with despite collecting three wins for the factory team.
“A lot of guys in this championship sit there and complain about the bike they are on, about how other bikes are better,” he said, per Autosport. “If you really want it, go out and do it. It’s not hard. I wasn’t going to stick around where I was; I wasn’t comfortable there.”
Miller gets podium finish in Sprint! | 01:02
WHY IS THIS BIKE SO GOOD?
Though the Ducati remains the form bike of the field, the KTM is doing things the Italian bike can’t do.
Its strengths are on the brakes and traction out of the corners. You could see it in the way Miller and Binder were slaloming their bikes to the limits, confident that they could collect the sliding bike and still power out of the corners.
It’s not necessarily the fastest way to complete a single lap, but in a race it’s extremely effective, particularly in this era of aerodynamics in which close racing is becoming increasingly difficult.
Aero is one thing, but nothing beats a guy who can be confidently last on the brakes.
“I was impressed by Binder in the sprint race,” Fabio Quartararo said, per GPOne. “I’ve never seen a rider ride a MotoGP bike like that, and even more so someone who didn’t crash.
“Having a bike that allows you to do certain manoeuvres when following someone is my dream. It’s what we are lacking to fight for the top positions.”
Miller likened riding his MotoGP machine to the days racing for KTM in Moto3.
“If I want to slide the bike, I can put the bike like that, piece of piss,” he said, per Motorsport Magazine. “And if I’m stopping the bike sideways, I can do things with the bike more freely.
“That just gives you an extra tool to use in that area, whereas with the Ducati — and don’t get me wrong, because the Ducati did everything very well, especially the last model — it kind of felt like you were on top of the bike and riding the bike, but you weren’t in charge of it all the time.”
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In the battle this impressive bike KTM has a secret weapon: Dani Pedrosa.
The most underrated of the so-called alien era, Pedrosa’s precision on the bike has made it fundamentally good — a bike that is technically sharp, predictable and gives strong feedback to the riders, who are encouraged to push.
“There’s a reason why he’s a legend,” Miller wrote. “He’s doing a fantastic job for KTM, and the information that he has on this track definitely helped us.
“We run a little bit of a different set-up — obviously because I’m around 30 kilos heavier than he is — but he’s made a big impact for us, and I think we have the best test rider on the grid.”
It must also help too that Miller and Binder appear to want to ride the bike in similar ways. Given the baseline appears very strong development pushing in a unified direction can only help the team move forward through the season.
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WHAT CAN KTM ACHIEVE?
However the KTM teammates are extracting their pace, it’s arrived sooner and more dramatically than forecast. Expectations for this season must be revised — maybe enough to stave off the ‘Ducati cup’ moniker some have tagged to it.
But Miller didn’t think he first KTM podium was all that great a surprise, having understood the bike’s potential in the first few races.
“The bike has been phenomenal all year,” he wrote. “Every weekend I’ve felt like we’ve only been missing a little bit here or there, so it was nice this weekend to have everything polished and do it right.
“We’re taking it to the big boys now, and it feels really great. It’s the fourth grand prix, and we have a good package.”
The confidence is there, and with another round of development in the works following the post-Spain test, there’s clearly a mood for progress.
“Now we’ve got some podiums under our belt, the natural reaction is to go chase a few more. And it’s super satisfying to do this so early with KTM.
“We’re slowly but surely arriving at the front, and I’m sure we’ll come to some tracks that are even better for us.”
And they say a bike that works well at Jerez will work well everywhere. If that holds true for KTM, ‘even better’ can only really mean one thing.
