After a particularly challenging Sunday race for KTM in Misano, tests followed at the same circuit but not everything seemed to go well for the manufacturer, with Francesco Guidotti admitting that… he expected more. The (new) chassis was one of the elements the team worked on the most, although it is not necessarily a novelty.
The Red Bull KTM Team Manager started by saying, quoted by SPEEDWEEK, that in fact the tested chassis is not completely new: ‘It’s not a new chassis, there are only small differences compared to the current versions’.
Afterwards he explained in what the team worked and admitted to being surprised… by the lack of some news that the team did not bring to the works: ‘But we worked in all areas. It was a big surprise for us the fact that we did not receive any new aerodynamic parts to try during this test. But we worked on chassis versions and also tested modified engines for 2024. On Monday, we focused mainly on hardware’.
In addition to the work done with KTM material, the teams also received new tire specifications to use, as the manager explained: ‘Michelin gave us two new rear tire specifications and one for the front. It made sense to test this compound with the current bikes, so Jack [Miller] ended up using the two bikes from the weekend. These are the tires that could be included in the allocation in 2024’.
Guidotti then explained the advantages: ‘With this ‘new technology’, we can work in a more modular way. We can better adjust the stiffness, if necessary. This was the first major test of this new technology. So far, we only have the first prototype, but it works. We will test different versions of this technology in the future. In any case, this concept is really promising’.
