Red Bull KTM Factory Team fights through wet conditions

Posted on Jun 24, 2017 by Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

With more developments coming from a three day test after the last MotoGP in Barcelona, the weather has not played into the hands of the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team this weekend with rain and cold conditions giving a slippery race track for the KTM RC16 to prove itself. Bradley Smith was back on a motorcycle after his Barcelona qualifying crash and was keen to attack at the race track where he took podiums in 125cc and Moto2 Grands Prix. He was happy with his pace even though the position did not reflect the technical lessons learned by the No.38 crew. Team mate and Moto2 winner here in 2013 Pol Espargaro had great speed through the speed traps but struggle with grip in a session that was wet and then dying. They were 19th and 22nd.

Bradley Smith (Factory Rider MotoGP):
"It wouldn't be Assen if we didn't have these rain showers but I was really pleased with the step that we took this afternoon as this morning the gap was quite big, but we've reduced that now as I felt so much better on the bike and more comfortable. In terms of grid position, of course I'd like to have done a little bit more there but some of the stuff we have learnt today we can transfer across to our dry settings and put together a solid warm up in the morning and be ready for 26 laps so we can fight for some points."

Sebastian Risse (Technical Director MotoGP):
"The main topic of the day was to react to the conditions, be flexible and ready, and this we managed. On Bradley's side we made a technical step forward and that was great but we learnt about running in the wet so now we have an idea about what might happen tomorrow."

Races: June 10, 2017 – Moto3 11:00 | MotoGP 13:00 CET | Moto2 14:30 | Red Bull Rookies Cup 16:00