Last year there was a lot of talk about a possible second satellite team for KTM in MotoGP. Creating one from scratch was an impossible solution, but expanding activities is still not a closed possibility, according to sports director Pit Beirer.
The Austrian explained to the press that there is a good plan in practice and Ducati is not as far away as demonstrated by Brad Binder’s fourth place in the 2023 World Championship: ‘Developing the bike is up to your engineers and your base. And then of course we could now discuss whether one more bike or one less bike will help you have more data on the track. But the regulations are very clear and you need to develop a bike. I feel like everything is here. We have a good plan on how to succeed and I feel that with our four bikes we have already come very close to putting some pressure on our friends from Bologna [Ducati]. If Brad finished fourth in the championship, he already had some very strong Ducati riders behind him and some other riders. So it’s an open competition, but I also feel with the concessions – we didn’t ask for them, but now they are in effect, it’s a rule, we all agreed and accepted them. So we won’t spend any energy thinking whether they are good or bad for us. They are there, the MotoGP regulations are in force, the concessions regulations are in force, now it’s up to us to make the most of it. If we think we need a third team, we need to get one. If we think two teams are enough, we need to leave it as it is. There has been a lot of talk and controversy about this. A new season, a new beginning, let’s
Beirer clarified that the question of having a second satellite team remains open: ‘We are in the process. Some contracts are ending, so some teams are looking for a constructor, but this is an ongoing discussion now. But it’s not that simple because people who are happy and have a partner, why do they need to change? It is not absolutely decided in any direction. But of course, we listen to everyone and then we discuss‘.
