Jorge Prado has looked like the real Jorge Prado ever since Unadilla after changing bike settings to be more like his MXGP machine, and he ended the year with a perfect 1-1 to emphasise the point. It leaves the question, why did it take so long? Lewis Phillips spoke with Ian Harrison and Jorge Prado and both, with hindsight, wish things could have been different but Ian says it’s never that simple.
Ian told Lewis: “He (Jorge) knows what he wants. And if I had to put that on paper, you’d go, really? That’s it. But when they get to this level, those kind of changes are big to them. And once they, especially him, when he feels comfortable and he feels like, okay, this is the bike I want, then obviously there’s no ceiling to this thing. And he’s got some real get up and go. So he’s been happy since Unadilla, since we made a change. And some of it was from back in his GP days. We brought some of that. So that seemed to really, really help him.
“I think at Pala he did a really good job and I felt like we were in the right place and then we started to lose a little bit of momentum. I think that’s when he started thinking, hey, I belong up front. But we were a ways off, sometimes 30 seconds, sometimes more. So we needed something. He talked to us about it and we made this change. It seems like we should have done it earlier. But sometimes things like that just take a little bit of time.”
Watch Ian’s interview below:
Prado himself wished he had this set-up from round one saying: “I mean, it’s quite a pity that we didn’t start the season already like Unadilla, that would be good for me with this bike setup. Because I think the championship would have been totally different.”
Prado also, in the press conference, also made mention of adapting to the US and how it took time: “My dream in my career was to be a world champion and I achieved that. My next goal was to win here in the States. That’s why I came over. So basically 2025 was a very disappointing year. Nothing went into plan and in 2026, getting back in Red Bull KTM, everything became brighter. I had a great Supercross season and then now in the outdoors, we figured it out after the break. So, yeah, I came to the States for rides like today.
“I’ve been waiting for a moto win for last year, the whole outdoor season, been waiting this whole outdoor season for that. I was close at times, but I never rode like I did today. So I’m just super happy about my riding to finally, you know, ride like myself and put everything together, be consistent.”
“I mean, I sort of feel a little bit more comfortable (in the US). Everything is different over here. The tracks, the living, the travelling. So it takes a little bit of time to get used to it. But I feel like now I have everything quite under control. I think also in the 2027 season, this will help me a lot. So yeah, I feel like now I belong a little bit more out here.”
Get Jorge’s full verdict below:
