MRW Issue 1

“He is a
prototype of a
special racer,
we love him”.
the Austrian Factory try to go testing once a
month under normal circumstances. Now personally
I had no idea that KTM were allowed
to test that much. Beirer said that they went
two months without testing but that KTM are
at the level where they don’t need the extra
testing and can cope with a stricter testing
schedule like the bigger teams.
KTM and Aprilia are the two newest manufacturers
to MotoGP and so it is interesting
to compare their progress so far. When answering
a question about whether or not KTM
feels like they are better than Aprilia Beirer responded
firmly saying that “there are no bad
bikes or bad riders in MotoGP” and went on
to say that KTM were making waves in the
smaller classes and were invited to show what
they could do in the premier class. But there
is no substitute for experience and KTM have
slowly been accumulating data so that each
year they become better and better.
The next journalist asked whether or not it
felt more special to win with a rider who had
been through the different world champion-
ship classes with KTM (Brad Binder).
Pit replied that he had two hearts on
the subject. On one hand, purely because
of the dedication and time that
he put into the project, Pol Espargaro
should have been the rider to get
KTM’s first win because “in bad and
good days he was fighting like a lion
for us” He goes on to say that on the
other hand to win with Brad Binder
is the nicest thing you can reach as a
race team and sport manager. “it was
a huge satisfaction to do it with Brad”
Beirer Said. Beirer also said that breaking
into Moto2 was difficult as it is a
highly competitive class, but he plead
with KTM’s board of directors to do
it so that they didn’t lose their world
champion from Moto3. Now, while Pit
Beirer never actually says Brad Binders
name, it’s rather heavily implied
that he is talking about Binder.
Rob Portman from Moto Rider
World then got his turn to talk and
asked what exactly Brad had brought
to the KTM MotoGP project. Beirer
made it very clear that you can’t develop
a bike with a rookie and that
not until this year have KTM had a
bike that was ‘rookie friendly’ so Brad
Binder came into the team at a good
time. He also says that Binder is an
experienced rider and as a result is
capable of telling the team what he
needs in order to make the most of
what the KTM has to offer. According
to Pit, from the beginning Binder
said that he liked the bike and that at
Jerez, Brad was sure that KTM had
the best package of any other team.
Pit Beirer then said something that
will make all South African motorsport
fans burst with pride. When referring
to Brad Binder, Pit said “He is a prototype
of a special racer, we love him”.
Beirer also said that Brad can be two
people, he is a gentle, nice and relaxed
guy and that if you look at Brads parents
that makes sense because that is
what his family is like. When it comes
down to business though, Brad is a
fighter like no other and will always
give everything that he has.
Throughout the Interview Pit gives
some amazing insight into the workings
of the KTM MotoGP project and
says some amazing things about the
young man from Potchefstroom. I’m
sure that there will be many more of
these comments coming in the future
as Brad Binder and KTM continue to
build on their momentum from Brno.