The weekend’s MotoGP event in Argentina was an historic one for the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team, this event the first time they had scored points at this ultimate level of the sport.

The new team celebrated earning their first-ever premier-class points at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit in Argentina on Sunday in only their second appearance of their debut season.

Spanish rider Pol Espargaró finished in 14th place on the KTM RC16 to pick up two points with British team-mate Bradley Smith one place behind in 15th, taking one point.

Both riders improved their positions from the opening round in Qatar and after starting the race from 18th and 19th on the grid, they completed the 25-lap race comfortably.

Spain’s Maverick Viñales (Yamaha) dominated the race and cruised to a second consecutive victory after fellow Spaniard Marc Marquez (Honda) crashed out from the lead early on.

“What is the most important for the guys and the whole team is that this is the first time in history that KTM has taken points in MotoGP,” said Espargaró afterwards.

“We must be happy. But on the other side, I think we had the opportunity to do a little more. We are missing some speed in the straight to overtake the two guys I was fighting with, (Hector) Barbera and Tito (Rabat). It was a shame because I felt faster and we were faster today.

“We could have been in front of them at the end of the race, but it was impossible to do it. We still have some weak points, but on the other side, I congratulate the guys, they are doing a good job. We are making steps, for sure we are still far away but we are starting to see the light.”

Fellow KTM rider Smith was equally happy with the performance.

“Today was a great day for us as a team because we scored our first points with both riders,” said Smith.

“We made a good step forward from Qatar because there we weren’t able to fight with the group ahead of us. Here we could both stay with Barbera and Tito for most of the race, so we improved by another 3-4 seconds. I was really pleased with my race. All weekend I was struggling to do one minute 41 (lap times) but then in the race they were all mid to low 41s so I was happy with that. Of course we need to continue to improve but right now we have to be happy with what we are doing race-by-race.

“The next one in Austin (in the United States, next weekend, April 23) is going to be tough for us. We have no data or information, there are 22 corners and it’s quite a technical layout so it’s going to be difficult.”

Photo courtesy Red Bull KTM

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