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Since it first joined MotoGP in 2016 it’s fair to say that, true to its reputation, KTM has been a team led by engineering more than any other factor.
But following a rough time in 2021 as both mechanical and human factors let it down, the firm has embarked upon an ambitious rethink for 2022 – one that flips the entire ethos of KTM’s MotoGP team back to one that puts people first.
The most obvious example of that to date, of course, has been the replacement of former project leader Mike Leitner, a vastly experienced crew chief and engineer who helped to turn the RC16 into a race-winning package last year.
It’s been no real secret that while he might have done a great job with the bike, he’s been less successful as a people manager, with whispers of rigidity and bullishness leaking out since his departure.
That’s a lesson that every MotoGP team seems to learn at one point or another, with Aprilia making significant progress when it split the team leader role into two by bringing Massimo Rivola into work alongside technical boss Romano Albesiano.
It’s also something that’s worked in reverse for Suzuki, as the 2020 world champion continues to struggle to manage the loss of former sporting boss Davide Brivio to Alpine’s Formula 1 effort.
And if you were setting out to build a MotoGP team focused around the human element, there’s perhaps no one who would be higher on your shopping list than former Pramac Racing boss and KTM new hire Francesco Guidotti.
One half of a new two-part KTM management structure alongside Fabiano Sterlacchini, who comes from Ducati to run the technical side of the operation, it seems like a match made in heaven as the team tries to get back on solid ground after a rocky season last year.
Or at least, it will if KTM motorsport director Pit Beirer’s plan comes to fruition, with the veteran ex-racer admitting during the launch of the team’s 2022 effort that the role envisioned for Guidotti isn’t one of building race bikes or organising logistics.
“We need to manage the team like other guys do at the track,” Beirer said of the appointment of Guidotti, “and have a weekend like the others do, for the riders, the bike. We have a long-term friendship with him, and we just picked it up again.
“It was all agreed that we needed to make a change, but we didn’t have the right person, then it all happened very quickly.
“He will need to really take care of the human power of the team, to make sure that we are one at the track and we don’t get stuck with the management of the team getting stuck in technical meetings. We really want to take care of the riders and their needs.
“I expect the same of Francesco as most other managers are doing, because there are a lot of things where you need to be the leader of the team but also a kind of rubber bumper. You have to coordinate between all the partners, the two teams.
“The first priority will be happy riders. Not by telling them that ‘yes, you’re great.’ We need to always be super honest with them. The technical discussions won’t stop, but the team leader won’t be in them when the rider might need something. He clearly isn’t there to be our main technician, he’s there to take care of all our people at the track.
That’s in line with Guidotti’s own ambitions as he takes control for the first time at the Sepang test this week, with his own mission very much one of making what KTM already has work better.
“I’m not a technician,” the Italian insisted. “I have some experience in the past as a mechanic, but my real professional career started on the sporting side.
“I can’t bring any experience from the technical side of the past 10 years. I can only bring my experience, trying to make the step that KTM is missing.
“It’s not even correct to say that it’s missing, because after five years, they’ve made a huge step that nobody else has ever did in history, we can say. I have to do my job, to give my support to the project with my experience, and let’s see what will be.
“They’ve clearly asked me to try to keep everyone together. It’s a huge group, we have more than 40 people, and we have to give the maximum support to the two riders and to help the Tech3 team to grow up two rookies. It’s a huge project and they need someone who keeps everyone together.”
However, he’s adamant about one thing – the improvement he wants to find in the team will not come from making huge, sweeping changes through the squad. Rather, he’s out to find a better way to work with the people who are already there – a line-up of people who Guidotti says are more than up to the job.
“I found a great group when we spent some days together building the bikes in Mattighofen,” he explained of his first introduction to his new team, “and to be honest I didn’t go there with the intention of making some changes. This is not the way I would act.
“They are a great team, and I found a lot of very motivated technicians. There’s nothing to change.
“There are things to coordinate better, there are things to make better with more organisation, but there are a lot pf great people in the right places so let’s push everyone in the same direction and I’m sure that we’ll have very good results.
“I’m not the boss and I can’t do whatever I want. First I have to understand if there is something to change, and if there is I’ll report it to Pit and we’ll make a decision together.”
There is one element of the team that will see an immediate change, however, with a very clear divide being erected between the test team and race team ahead of the start of the 2022 season.
It has been something of a blurred line so far as KTM has scrambled to get up to speed in the cutthroat world of MotoGP. Beirer admitted that the time has now come, following the loss of concession status, where having racers testing new parts has reached the point of being more of a hinderance than a help.
“Last year we still developed the motorcycle in the race, to get more ready,” he explained.
“That had a background in losing concessions; it changed our life a lot because before when something was ready, you took your best rider to any track and went testing.
“This regulation change made it a bit more difficult, so we tested at the races. But now in the end it’s the time for the project to make another step and give all the test work to the test team. We have, I would say, the best test rider in the world with Dani [Pedrosa].
“We have this crew ready, with Dani, and together as a team they need to do this pre-work. We’ve really split the bike development – the responsibility for that is with the test team, and the race team will race.”
