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KTM's financial woes have held sway all winter, and despite reassurances coming out of Austria, there was some understandable doubt about an unchanged MotoGP effort. Even Brad Binder was not immune to some bad thoughts, but upon his arrival in Sepang he can smile. Pedrosa and Espargarò prepared the ground in the three-day Shakedown and it seems that the first feedback was positive. "I haven 't spoken directly with Pol and Dani, but with my team who are very optimistic, they all seem excited," says the South African . "I'll be honest, I haven't seen so many new things in the box, especially in the first test of the year for a long time."
Is that a relief?
"I was impressed when I went to KTM in mid-January and saw how much material they had prepared. It looks like we would have a very busy testing schedule and that's nice."
How did you spend the winter?
"I got some reassurances from the bosses. Logically, when you read such things the first time you wonder what is going on. It went exactly as I was told, though."
Tomorrow you will be on the track, what will you focus on in these tests?
"I would like us to be able to limit the rear wheel slip, it could make a big difference. Then I would like to improve the bike's ability to corner without putting too much stress on the front."
You said you wanted to learn from Acosta, what specifically?
"One thing I need to do is to focus on corner entry, to anticipate it a little bit. I'm always lagging in that and when you lack some grip in the front then you get into trouble. I have to be able to be more gentle in leaning the bike. Pedro gets into the corners very early, it's like he makes each corner tighter, he does less meters and it works very well with our bike. I do the opposite (laughs)."
The factory team and Tech3 will be on the same level.
"It was already exactly the same last year, we all had the same material. I like it because it feels like a four-rider team, there is a wall between the two pits, but the rest is all open."
Updates during the season, however, will come first to those ahead in the standings.
"It makes sense to me."
There is a lot of talk about a return to Kyalami for MotoGP, what do you think?
"I was there on Friday to do a few laps before coming here, it's a beautiful track. I hope F1 and MotoGP can return to South Africa as soon as possible. It would need a couple of minor changes for the bikes because all the run-off areas are paved and we need gravel, but there would be no need for any major intervention as far as safety is concerned."
