KTM has underscored the importance of fielding four bikes in MotoGP, describing it as “fundamental” to their competitiveness, after finalizing a new contract extension with the Tech3 team. Despite allowing Tech3’s new ownership, led by Guenther Steiner, to explore alternative options—including a potential switch to Honda—KTM made clear that reducing its presence to two bikes was never truly on the table.
“It’s fundamental to work with four bikes,” KTM motorsport boss Pit Beirer stated during the contract announcement. “You’re just really strong if you can rely on four bikes, four riders—but also four crew chiefs, the whole [second] team, and technicians behind them. You have so much more momentum if you have four instead of two. So we wouldn’t feel really comfortable going to the future with two bikes. That was never really an option.”
Beirer emphasized that Steiner and the Tech3 team were given full freedom to evaluate all possibilities before committing to the extension: “We didn’t make any kind of pressure. We told them, ‘look at all the options.’ But we also made clear our proposal, how our option is looking. It was always a discussion about how can we increase the performance? That’s all we want.”
The renewed partnership will see four KTMs on the grid for the foreseeable future, which Beirer views as crucial for performance and development: “You need four boys on the grid to be a strong operation. That’s why we are really happy to announce this partnership.”
Rider line-ups for KTM’s 850cc era are yet to be confirmed, with the factory team expected to feature Alex Marquez and Fabio di Giannantonio. KTM also holds options on current Tech3 riders Maverick Vinales and Enea Bastianini.
