KTM has 'no need to hide' after testing with MotoGP rivals in Austria

Entering the championship in 2017 with Bradley Smith and Pol Espargaro, KTM had developed its RC16 prototype in private before joining this week's Ducati-organised familiarisation test for next month's Austrian Grand Prix.

Test riders Mika Kallio and Thomas Luthi participated in KTM's ninth test, Kallio finishing 1.951 seconds off Andrea Iannone's pace on Wednesday.

"We've now really confirmed that we're going in the right direction," KTM's on-road vice president Mike Leitner said.

"At the end of the second day the times started to drop and this gave us our first real reference.

"And even though the way to the top will be even harder, on no account do we need to hide.

"There are many things to do but we know where the bar is set.

"If someone had told us before the test that we were three seconds behind, we would have taken it well.

"This was an important step that is bound to guarantee that awareness is sharpened throughout the entire company."

KTM will launch its programme officially during the August 12-14 GP at the Red Bull Ring, set to be the last time the current RC16 will appear.

From its next test at Misano at the end of August, attention will turn to a completely new bike in the build-up to Kallio racing as a wildcard in the Valencia finale.

"Our performance was better than many expected and the distance between us and the others could have been greater," Kallio said.

"But we've delivered impressive work on the two test days and we notice that the other teams were to some extent also impressed.

"This time the concentration was more on set-up and less on development and that made it easier for me to ride faster times, so my confidence improved lap for lap.

"With all the other riders on the circuit we clearly saw in which areas we still had to improve.

"This allowed me to follow some other riders and I understand what is now necessary."