“Current bikes more difficult to ride!” Dani Pedrosa
Dani Pedrosa speaks on what the KTM situation looks like going into the 2024 season
Shehryar Bin Shahid 4th March 2024
Share on:
Dani Pedrosa was invited to the Paddock Pass Podcast, where he reflected on his role for the season and how KTM plans its attack for a major result in 2024.
What are the qualities that make a good test rider?
“It’s always important to have good feedback and communication between the rider and the engineer. You have to be a good leader because you have to be sure of what you’re doing, what you’re saying, and what you’re trying to steer the team towards.
So with today’s rules it’s difficult to always make the perfect choice because you have so many detailed options that afterwards you can’t change. So if you make a mistake, then you have to deal with that for the whole season and that’s why it’s super important to have it very clear and to express that to the team in a way that makes them confident.”
How much different is the RC16 compared to your last year of racing?
Dani Pedrosa, in his thirteen year MotoGP stint has seen multiple eras from the conclusion of the 990cc era, followed by the 800cc era, then the introduction of the 1000cc era and then finally the current regulations of the unified ecu rules which has seen major strides in the aerodynamics of the bike.
When asked about comparing the current bike that he is riding compared to ones that he rode in his hay days, Dani Pedrosa felt that the difficulty of riding the bikes has gone up and that the machines are now less agile when changing direction due to the heavy aero.
“Every time it [physical demand of the bike] goes up!”
“You have much more difficulty in handling the bike from left to right and also to make maneuvers when you are following someone and therefore the speeds are higher in the corner.”
“So higher speeds [in the corners] but in the intersections [the aero] makes the bike less agile.”
“You have to set your bike’s aero in a way that is more stable in the brakes and in the straights. But more stability means less agility.”
“They [KTM’s aero department] make something that in the numbers looks super!” said the Little Samurai. “But when you try it on the bike, you barely move [between corners].”
“You follow more what the bike is doing and not the bike following you so that’s the constant argument that we have in order to find a good balance between the good aero [in terms of numbers] for the team and the one that can be agile enough to to handle the bike in a way that you want and also not not to blow your arms!”
When asked if he prefers the older bikes, Pedrosa responded:
“I prefer the older bikes! The bikes without the aero were so much more fun to ride.”
How quickly do KTM bring new changes in case you need some change
“It depends on the time and priority.”
“So far the reaction of the factory has been very proactive and reliable because many times you try a thousand things but nothing works but at least at every step we try and find the next step afterwards to implement and improve. So yeah their reaction time is fast!”
What will it take for KTM to fight for the world championship this season?
Last year KTM had a breakthrough season with the Austrian manufacturer firmly finishing as the second best constructor. Now with a strong and consistent season under its belt, Pedrosa was asked what will it take for the Austrian manufacturer to go one place better:
“It’s the mentality. So far the team had been trying to catch up because we were coming from way back but now it’s time where the mentality has to be different to approach that goal (the world championship).”
“The mentality is there and that’s how I see it.”
You won 31 races in your career but last year you surprised everyone when you finished fourth at Misano in just your 3rd race in five years. Would that rank among some of your best performances?
“I’m really happy because I was almost five years out of competition plus I’m a bit older and I was racing against the new generation with the latest technological development. So, I was very happy to still perform at [a high level] despite all that change.”
“Also I was always racing with Honda and [in Misano] I was racing with KTM so it’s good for me to do such a great result with a different manufacturer. But no, I won’t consider it one of my best performances because in the past I was injured and I had to fight for the titles.”
“You have a different type of pressure as a wild card. Obviously you want to do good but you don’t have the pressure of fighting for the world championship.”
Many people want to see Pedro Acosta in MotoGP. How would you assess his performance during the preseason?
Pedrosa Acosta is the talk of the town with him expected to make his super anticipated debut this weekend in Qatar. The Spaniard’s hype mimics that of Dani Pedrosa himself when he made his debut in 2006 aboard the Repsol Honda team.
“I have been with him in Malaysia but I don’t think he needs much guidance. He knows what needs to be done and he is able to learn super quick.
Of course, this class is complicated and the rivals are all very strong. So it’s not going to be easy but I think his learning curve is going to be faster than expected.”
Fifty euro bet for the world championship?
I would bet for us obviously, even if I lose my fifty euros!
But I have to say Pecco looks very strong, but you never know and we have many races and injuries can happen, bike failures can happen or other Riders mistakes can affect your race as well, so it’s nothing decided, even though at the moment he is very fast.
