Jonas Folger: From the Euro Moto Sprint in Most to the World Endurance Championship in Suzuka

The third round of the Euro Moto series at Most this weekend marked the racing debut of the KTM 990 RC R – which is being developed with a view to the 2027 Supersport World Championship – with Jonas Folger at the helm. The first Euro Moto Supersport race on Saturday did not go entirely to plan, but it certainly served as a useful test under race conditions.

Sunday’s race had to be abandoned after four laps following a crash involving Swiss rider Marcel Brenner, who required medical attention. In a near mirror image of the events in the Sportbike class – where the race was started twice, stopped twice and ultimately cancelled altogether – the Supersport race was also halted again after the restart, meaning it too was not started a third time.

Even a mechanical fault can be helpful

Nevertheless, the former MotoGP rider, former IDM Superbike champion and current KTM test rider with the Freudenberg Paligo-KTM Test Team, Jonas Folger, was able to take some positives from the race debut. Just before setting off with his mate Marcel Schrötter for the Suzuka 8 Hours, the 32-year-old gave SPEEDWEEK.com an exclusive interview. “The main takeaway from the weekend is that we’ve collected more data than ever before – important data and a great deal of insight. We also had a technical fault; there’s no denying that. We’ve seen why that happened.”

He was also preoccupied by the question of why this happened here and now, given that they’d already ridden thousands of kilometres on the bike. “It will be absolutely vital that KTM now takes a very close look at the engine and analyses the whole situation. At the end of the day, we’ll know exactly where we stand.”

Now, the engine is an important part of the bike, but it’s only one part. “On the chassis side, we’ve also analysed a few things really thoroughly. That means that for the next race, whenever that may be, we’ve got some ideas for the engine, the chassis and the ergonomics.”

A wealth of data

As for the sporting performance – albeit a secondary consideration – he pointed out that they’d been racing with the 2027 Supersport World Championship spec and had, in a sense, put a few restrictions on themselves in terms of engine power. “That did hurt us in terms of our position, but what was far more important was that we had a benchmark to compare everything from braking stability to cornering speed. We can definitely put this information to good use. The result is a bit skewed due to the lack of power. But we knew that. Next time out, we might come with a bit more power so that we can be in the mix a bit further up the field.”

Naturally, that last statement was bound to be followed by the question of when and where. “We’re not talking about having 15 PS more. We’re talking about a few PS here, which might allow us to move up two or three positions and see the riders ahead of us for a bit longer. We don’t yet know when and where we’ll be back. It just depends on when the new parts are ready and what new tasks have come up after this weekend. Some parts take a day to produce, others perhaps a month and a half. It’s not that simple. It has to make sense to go into another race weekend in order to actually make progress.”

I’m past that age now.

Jonas Folger

Immediately after the interview with SPEEDWEEK.com, he headed to Prague Airport bound for Suzuka, where he’s not facing another (KTM) test but yet another race. Now, sprint and endurance races are two different kinks in the rope. “It’s obviously a different kind of race to sprint races like the ones here. I have to say that the standard in Euro Moto is really high. There are some good riders there. We were a bit out of our depth, but you can tell that the field is very young and that the riding is very aggressive. It was really good and it was fun too. But I wouldn’t want to compete for a whole season anymore. I’m past that age.”

Regarding his appearance at Suzuka for another manufacturer, he also clarified that this has, of course, been approved by KTM and that, firstly, they benefit from having a fit (test) rider and, secondly, he brings a wealth of knowledge and input from other brands and conditions. “Gathering a wide variety of data is very important in this business. KTM knows that too.”