Is the KTM RC16 the best bike on the grid?

KTM have been one of the most dominant manufacturers in 2020, do they have the best bike?

At Jerez this year, Pol Espargaro stated that the KTM’s are faster than Ducati on the brakes and corner speed, however, the Ducati are faster on the straights.

KTM currently sit in third place in the manufacturer standings with two wins to their name from Brad Binder and satellite KTM rider Miguel Oliveira, they are just 6 points from leading the manufacturer standings led by Yamaha currently with 88 points.

Three of their four riders have stood on the podium with Espargaro taking a third-place finish at Styria, rookie rider Iker Lecuona has a best result of P9 and all the KTM’s finished in the top 10 at Styria. This raises the question, do KTM have the best bike?

From what you can see when racing, the bike corners incredibly smoothly, it also brakes well with their riders not looking to be snaking around under braking and forcing the bike to stop. On the straights at Styria, it was keeping up with the Ducati GP20 of Jack Miller very comfortably without difficulties.

KTM have built a bike which no matter where you take it, it performs, unlike other bikes which do well at certain tracks, for example, the Red Bull Ring has always been a Ducati track due to their long straights which have enabled the Ducati’s to pull away from the opposition in the past.

At Jerez this year Brad Binder was able to set laps which were some of the fastest laps of the race before winning at Brno, a track he had never ridden the KTM at, following this he took a very solid fourth place in Austria. This is whilst his teammate Pol Espargaro was running in podium positions at Brno before crashing out of the race, Pol also would have finished in the top five in Austria but crashed out here too before taking third place at the Styrian GP.

Miguel Oliveira has had some good results so far this season, he has been unlucky as he has been taken out by Binder and Espargaro in two races but has been consistently in the top 10 before his race in at the Styrian GP.

It is clear to see that KTM have built an incredible machine with rookies Binder and Lecuona both performing on it, plus two race wins and a third rider on the podium, KTM are coming with their Red Bull wings.

Featured image – www.motogp.com