Ducati has twice as many KTMs on the track
MotoGP is going through a very delicate moment at the level ‘politic‘. Suzuki has just retired, Yamaha has only two bikes on the grid and is laid up, Honda ditto and has riders on the run (Alex Rins has moved to Yamaha, for example). The only ‘bulwark’ of the house of the golden wing is Marc Marquez who is linked to Honda by a contract valid until 2024 and the impression is that only this bureaucratic ‘detail’ has so far prevented the phenomenon born in 1993 from marrying another manufacturer to have a competitive bike available.
The last race at Silverstone saw an Aprilia, a Ducati and a KTM on the podium. The three European manufacturers are currently in a clear technical advantage over the Japanese giants, ‘paralysed’ by the pandemic in a MotoGP and unable to keep up with the competition. Aprilia and KTM each have four bikes on the grid, Ducati double that, eight. This fact doesn’t go down well with Aprilia or even KTM, also because the latter would like to field two more bikes in 2024 by promoting Aki Ajo’s structure in MotoGP, but Dorna does not want to give the Austrian manufacturer this possibility given that by regulation until 2026 the extra seats are only available to manufacturers such as BMW and Kawasaki, realities that have no intention of entering the premier class.
Is Dorna’s inaction a strategy to prevent KTM from ‘blowing’ Marquez away from Honda, pushing the latter to retire? Honda recently reiterated that it has no intention of leaving MotoGP, but the number one from the Mattighofen manufacturer over the weekend at the Red Bull Ring Pit Beirer will return to the assault of the organizer to snatch two more bikes in 2024: “To finish third now you have to get six Ducatis behind you – the words of Beirer guest of the ‘flagship’ TV of the Red Bull galaxy, Servus TV – next weekend we will show up again in front of Dorna to ask for two more bikes. We organize the Red Bull Rookies Cup and are very active in Moto3 and Moto2. We raise many young riders who we don’t want to see leave other manufacturers. We are solid enough to be able to expand our presence in MotoGP.”
A potential ‘exchange’ between KTM and Dorna
Sharable words aimed at underlining how much KTM contributes to the motorcycle speed movement in general, a presence that at least ‘evens’ the fact that Ducati supplies – starting this year – the bikes for the MotoE championship. By regulation, a private team is subsidized by Dorna, but in all likelihood KTM could easily give up the economic support of the organizer. In what could be a compromise between Dorna and KTM, it shouldn’t be forgotten either Dorna would like to give Honda and Yamaha the opportunity to carry out more tests or have more technical freedom to fill the gap which divides them from Ducati, KTM and Aprilia. The regulation of the current concessions does not provide that Honda and Yamaha will be able to benefit from them from 2024. If KTM were to oppose the exception to the rule, the concessions for the Japanese manufacturers would not be triggered. The yes to two more bikes in 2024 could, however, soften the Austrian manufacturer on the subject.
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