MotoGP
KTM Factory Racing have just unveiled the KTM RC16 colours for the 2021 MotoGP FIM World Championship – check out the new look and hear from Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira here.
KTM have revealed the livery for the bikes Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira will be riding for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing in 2021.
The new colours will make their debut on March 28, 2021, as the 2021 MotoGP™ season gets under way at Qatar's Losail International Circuit, with the team hoping to surpass their 4th position in the 2020 Constructors Standings and add to their grand total of three Pole Positions, nine podium trophies and three victories in what will be only their fifth season in the MotoGP paddock.
At the moment I feel that we have a really, really strong package
Binder, 25, made his MotoGP debut in 2020. The South African has been part of the Red Bull KTM family since 2015 and became the company’s third Moto3 World Champion in 2016. But his career highlight to date came in 2020, when he scored his first premier class win and KTM’s first MotoGP win at the Czech Republic Grand Prix.
Binder said: “2020 in general was a season where I feel we achieved a lot, a few good results and obviously with the first victory – or KTM’s first victory – being the main thing. But there were also many days when we had the potential to do so much more.
"For sure now the margin is a little bit smaller to try and improve but I think as the season went on last year, even though we had a little bit of a slump in the middle, things got better and better. I felt like I was improving not only for the results but in the way approaching the weekends and going session-by-session. At the moment I feel that we have a really, really strong package. We are in a good direction and I am super-excited to get back on the bike this year.”
Portuguese rider Oliveira, 26, added: “For sure to be world champion you need to have many details together at the same time. Sometimes a fourth place will be a very good result and sometimes a second place may not fulfil our expectations, but you have to work through that process and right now, as a start base, I am thinking quite hard to set a bar of results that we can consider as successful.
"For sure being better than 2020 is already a good start. It is quite a relaxing factor to know that the bike is capable of winning but at the same time you cannot take anything for granted. I think every year you need to bring something ‘up’ on your side to keep a very good level in this championship. I feel I am able to work more on details in a factory team and to at least be more consistent. I think these are the tools that the factory team is going to give me. I have full conviction in my work.”
Pit Beirer, KTM Motorsport Director, commented: “The whole MotoGP journey so far has been a dream, but the project started with a dream to become a GP winner in that class, so it is amazing to look back and see where we have come. However, I definitely don’t want to commit to us already being title contenders. I think this pressure should still be on other guys in the paddock.
"We have great staff and everybody is pushing hard. I think that is the style of KTM and the whole company: to have this new spirit with a new goal means the whole company sticks together and we do it together. It brings extra energy.
"I will be happy with 2021 if our riders finishing the last GP without any injuries and we can think back to some very successful races. That’s what I am looking for.”
