The Austrian manufacturer’s parent company, the Pierer Group, is in serious financial trouble with billions of debts mounting.
The organisation that owns brands KTM, Husqvarna, and GasGas among others revealed it had gone into self-administration on November 29.
In the motorsport landscape, the immediate concern was for the MotoGP programs.
KTM has a factory team in the premier class and Tech3 will run with KTM support in 2025. The brand also has teams in Moto2 and Moto3.
Despite rumours of an impending demise, Tech3 team principal Herve Poncharal has sought to allay those fears in the press.
Publicly, he has stated that the 2025 racing plans will proceed. However, there are still serious concerns about the program’s future.
While KTM may continue into 2025, there is no guarantee beyond that. KTM has stopped development on the RC16 ahead of the new season.
Beyond 2025, there is nothing set in stone. KTM does benefit in so much that there is a year-on-year engine freeze from 2025 to 2026.
Nevertheless, new regulations for 2027 that come with smaller, 850cc engines will come with a large financial outlay.
“For 2025 everything is confirmed,” Poncharal told GP One.
“In Barcelona, during the last GP, I had a meeting with Hubert Trunkenpolz, Pit Beirer and Carmelo Ezpeleta.
“There is a plan and it will be respected. From the information I have received, the racing
department will not be touched by the Pierer Group’s financial difficulties.
“Just a week ago, Alberto Giribuola and Manu Cazeaux, the crew chiefs of Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales, were in Austria, at Munderng, at the racing department and everything is proceeding as usual.
“The usual winter preparation work is being done and bike assembly days have been confirmed for the end of the month. In short, they are working as usual.”
Poncharal affirmed that he had received confirmation from KTM motorsport direct Pit Pierer that nothing would be affected, including lower-level commitments.
“He told me that everything is okay for 2025,” Poncharal explained.
“Everything is proceeding as usual here at Tech3 as well, we are working on graphics for the new pits and we have already shipped some crates for testing in Malaysia.
“As for Moto3 there are no problems either, we have received the 2025 frames from KTM.”
Poncharal said he had his “fingers crossed” that the status quo would remain.
The KTM factory team will field Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder in 2025 with Enne Bastianini and Maverick Vinales at Tech3.
Discussion about this post