MotoGP: Austria ‘another home race’ for Smith

Bradley Smith says he’s going into this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring in a very special position, with the Austrian manufacturer’s devout fanbase meaning that he gets the luxury of two home races coming back to back.

Going to Austria only two weeks before Silverstone, he says that he’s been so surprised so far by the loyalty shown to both him and teammate Pol Espargaró by a breed of fan that’s quite different from what he’s used to.

“The KTM fanbase are very proud. Most people are cheering for us because they’re fans of KTM and they have been for a long time. I’m not going to lie – most of them are Austrian! But they’re almost like football fans, because they’re so loyal to the team. You cut them open and they bleed orange.

“They just want to know when the KTM is going to do well, so that they can stand in front of their friends and say ‘look, there it is.’ They have no lack of belief that the time will come, they just want to know when – they don’t mind waiting five years as long as they can tell their friends it’ll take five years!”

But while progress on the RC16 machine might be slow so far, Smith also has complete confidence that the project will see him back at the sharp end of MotoGP before too long, thanks to KTM’s track record in all forms of two-wheeled motorsport.

“KTM always get there. I have that completely blind faith like I did when I signed for them before 2016 had even started. The only person who’d done a lap on it was Hoffman, and people still ask if I had saw lap times beforehand! But I have complete faith because the track record is that they get it right, and even now I can see that we’re making continuous steps in the right direction.

“It was the right step at that time of my career, because I’ve taken five steps back to in the long run end up in a much stronger position while I’m still in my prime. That’s the dream and I believe it’ll come.”