While teams like Suzuki or Aprilia remain undecided about fulfilling the wishes of the MotoGP promoter by implementing a second team in the premier class, Ducati is increasingly taking over the world championship grid, on which it will plant eight prototypes next season.
This maneuver by Ducati has not left some of its rivals happy, who view with suspicion how the Italian manufacturer is going to have a large amount of information for its engineers to work with, in addition to having eight seats with which it can end up dominating the pilot market.
One of the teams that may be hit hardest is KTM , whose roster of young talent under contract continues to grow and may end up finding they don’t have enough bikes to give everyone a chance in the premier class.
Brad Binder has a contract until the end of 2024; Remy Gardner and Raúl Fernández until the end of 2023; Pedro Acosta will race in Moto2 for two years and will make the jump to MotoGP in 2024, and all this without forgetting that Miguel Oliveira has lived in the house all his life. At KTM they have made their calculations and are aware that they may very well need more bikes in the medium term so as not to lose their riders.
“As soon as we get the feeling that our two teams are stable and performing well, we really want a third team in MotoGP,” says Pit Beirer , KTM’s sporting director, in his regular appearances at Speedweek , Red’s official channel. Bull.
With Dorna keeping the allocation of new places closed, KTM should look for a partner in the current grid to be able to expand, as it did in 2019, when Tech 3 left a 20-year relationship with Yamaha to become a satellite team of the Austrian factory.
Before reaching an agreement with the French team, Beirer tempted Lucio Cecchinello and his LCR, linked to Honda since reaching the senior class.
“We negotiated with Lucio two years ago, but it seems that he is a very loyal partner to Honda, that is why we have never had an in-depth conversation”, admits Beirer, perhaps sensing that this unbreakable loyalty is not going through its best moment this year.
“We haven’t actively looked for any partners in recent years because Dorna informed us that they would like each manufacturer (6) to have only one satellite team,” explains the KTM boss.
“That’s why we took a step back when we noticed that something was happening at Avintia and Gresini”, remembering that, initially, the Spanish team was going to lose the place and the Italian seemed doomed to continue with Aprilia.
However, in the end, the Avintia square has been taken over by the VR46 and the Gresini square has distanced itself from Noale, both structures joining the red army of Borgo Panigale .
“Now, Ducati will have four teams and we will have two for the next two seasons, so we feel we were misinformed a bit,” he says suspiciously.
“It is evident that you have a certain power when you have four teams and supply a third of the grid,” the KTM executive makes public his disappointment.
(Click on this link or on the photo to see all the KTM bikes and riders in MotoGP)
