Miguel Oliveira - 'The general feeling is we have hit a wall'

With only one day of testing left before the opening round of the 2021 MotoGP season, KTM continues to search for a better direction after Brad Binder and Miguel Oliveira are P16 and P18 respectively. 

The Austrian team have struggled so far in Qatar, and with the RC16 seemingly not gelling with the Losail International Circuit, it could be a damage limitation start to the year for KTM. 

Both Oliveira and Binder completed around 50 laps, but were +1.4s down on the leader Maverick Vinales. 

While the race runs have been slightly better, they still remain some ways away from the podium pace as it currently stands. 

"I felt quite good on the bike to be honest. Unfortunately my feeling did not match the lap-time. We had the potential to go fast and the same as yesterday and we just couldn’t match our best package in the best sectors," said Oliveira.

"It’s still far from the top and it seems to be we are suffering a bit more, but we are doing all we can to come up with solutions and take the maximum from this package."

So far we've seen all four KTM riders lingering at what would be the final points scoring places. And with that said, there has been no real breakthrough with new parts or the setup to give the riders and team a direction to go in. 

Oliveira added: "It’s true. The general feeling is we have hit a wall. It doesn’t matter what we do to the bike, we can make it slightly better but it’s not quite there.

"It’s hard to win with every change we make everywhere. It seems a bit hard at the moment but we don’t give up.

"We also tried a couple of parts and when you focus only on the set-up of the bike, then it is easier but it’s a mixed job here. We need to do the best we can."

The 2018 Moto2 runner-up gave an indication in his media debrief after today, as to where the main struggles lie. 

"I would say the first corners are more tight and we need to force the bike to turn and have grip at the same time.

"In fast flowing corners I feel our bike is more or less there. But when you lose more than second at this kind of level, then you need a little bit of everything to catch up the time. I would say the first part of the track is where we are struggling at the moment."