KTM'S TECHNICAL DIRECTOR OF MOTOGP SEBASTIAN RISSE
P92
Interview
T
he saying may go "third time's a
charm," but that isn't necessarily
the case for KTM and its Red Bull-
backed MotoGP project. In a time where
MotoGP racing has never been as com-
petitive, it already seems a lifetime ago
the orange-colored powerhouse arrived
on the grid in 2017. All bright-eyed and
full of hope, the Austrians experienced
a severe reality check in a 2018 season
where the only real highpoint came at the
soaking wet Valencia Grand Prix when
Pol Espargaro outlasted all but two riders
and put the RC16 on the podium in third
place for a debut team podium.
Much expectation has been leveled
at KTM in year three, not least of which
comes from team partners Red Bull,
who, it must be said, understands the
enormity of the task at hand but never-
theless wants to see strong, consistent
results for their investment.
The 2019 season has seen the arrival
of Johann Zarco to partner incumbent
Pol Espargaro, and the formation of a di-
rect satellite team in the former Yamaha
outfit of Tech3, doubling the number of
bikes on the grid and thus the available
data available to KTM's young Technical
Director, Sebastian Risse.
At the recent Circuit of The Americas
MotoGP round, KTM invited a select
group of journalists behind closed doors
to chat with Risse about the MotoGP
program and the challenges they face in
getting the orange bikes up front.
It's year three for KTM and their multi-million dollar MotoGP
effort, and we got the very rare chance to sit down with Technical
Director of MotoGP, Sebastian Risse, to see how it's going
I N P R O G R E S S
A W O R K
BY RENNIE SCAYSBROOK
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
