First Person/Opinion:
by Michael Goggis
In 2009, Kawasaki decided to withdraw from MotoGP racing. But in a deal with series organizers, Kawasaki created the Hayate Racing program so the company could put a bike on the grid. A single bike, with Marco Melandri on board, was involved enough to satisfy the contractual agreement between Kawasaki and Dorna, and the machine received no upgrades during the year.
The latest court filing surrounding KTM’s financial woes says the company is “planned” to pull out of MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3. But it does not expand on what this means, and the company does not give a date when it will do so.
So far, all signs point to KTM continuing its efforts in the 2025 Grand Prix race. It is not yet clear how much it will do. The current state of MotoGP technology is like a river: if you don’t develop the race bike, if you don’t push upstream, you will be carried downstream by the schedule. And the question is how far up is KTM pushing.
On the positive side:
MotoGP testing continues. The team recently completed a private test in Jerez. The racing department has its own budget and operates as a separate entity, drawing revenue from sponsors including Red Bull. Tech3’s Hervé Poncher, who operates the satellite’s factory-spec RC16s, said in various media reports that everything is running as normal.
And KTM is obliged to field machines in MotoGP. However, the fact is that we do not know the details of the contract between the manufacturers and Dorna, so what exactly KTM should do or what kind of punishment he will face if he is removed are issues that will only be clear by the activities he does in the team. In the near future.
On the negative side;
KTM has been at the absolute bleeding edge of MotoGP race bike technology development in recent years. The aerodynamic developments and experiments were matched by Ducati and Aprilia but not surpassed by them. The company was the first to compete regularly in MotoGP with a carbon fiber frame. The slatted-edge swingarm-mounted winglets are ahead of anything else on the grid.
Development costs money, especially the last bit of progress that goes from fifth to podium, or third to first bike. Since KTM is ultimately responsible for the RC16’s technological development, the bankruptcy court and creditors will likely have some say in whether race bike R&D is warranted by the company’s current status.
It’s one thing to see last year’s bikes. Developing new ones is another. In the year As we saw in 2024, the championship-winning Ducati Desmosedici GP23 was fast but nimble, occasionally winning but never able to consistently run with the evolution GP24. And KTM’s RC16 was not a race winner last year, but a stage winner. Asking if KTM is allowed to spend money on race bike development is a fair question. It’s also legitimate to ask whether the 2024-spec machine or the updated 2025 model is good enough to win next year, with the teams around it getting bigger every time they come out.
As the technical specifications of Moto2 are very limited, the KTM teams in Moto2 may be slightly affected in terms of performance by the current financial crisis. On the other hand, the development of the Moto3 machine has the same concerns as those surrounding the development of the RC16.
In the year In 2009, Melandri pulled a few surprises out of his hat, including second place at Le Mans. And in recent years, last season Ducati was good for a few wins, especially early in the season when the company dialed in its latest factory bike. If development on the KTM RC16 slows down, especially with teams like Honda and Yamaha getting offers to speed up their development efforts, it’s hard to see RC16 riders at the top of the podium. Can’t see them pulling off a few surprises on their own. Where KTM will fall in terms of success in 2025 is not just how good the RC16 is, but how much work KTM is allowed to do to make it better.
