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From today until Sunday, the Red Bull KTM Factory team will be testing the latest 2025 versions of the KTM RC16 with Dani Pedrosa and Pol Espargaró at the shakedown test on the Sepang Circuit near Kuala Lumpur for the factory riders Binder and Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory) and Viñales and Bastianini (Red Bull KTM Tech3), who will then take delivery of their new machines in Malaysia from February 5th to 7th.
KTM Motorsport Director Pit Beirer (52) has been busy since the summer presenting the board and the top management of KTM AG with new concepts for the continuation of motorsport activities, which, with the catchy motto "Ready to Race", made an immense contribution to the rapid rise of Pierer Mobility from 1992 to 2023.
As in recent years with Pramac Ducati, KTM will compete for the first time in 2025 in both teams with four top riders and identical factory equipment. The times and experiments in which rookies like Lecuona, Gardner, Raul Fernández and Augusto Fernández ensured mediocre results at Tech3 are a concept of the past.
KTM has not won a MotoGP race since Brad Binder's unforgettable rain dance in Spielberg in 2022. That is set to change in 2025. "We have never had such a perfect mix of experienced riders and young talents like Pedro in the squad as we have this year," says Pit Beirer.
"When two MotoGP winners like Enea and Maverick come to us from other brands, it opens your eyes. You take new steps in development when technical input comes in from outside. We then really saw where we can still improve. We don't need to take giant steps, but rather valuable details that can take us to the very top," explained Pit Beirer in an exclusive interview with GPOne.com. "And I firmly believe that we can do it with the current squad."
At KTM, the realization had already taken hold in the summer of 2023 that there is no longer a single area in which improvements of half a second are possible. Instead, it is about individual tenths in areas such as suspension, engine, electronics, chassis and aerodynamics.
KTM has always been extremely competitive in recent years when it comes to engines (power, rideability and reliability). The start device has also been working perfectly for three years.
Where did KTM need to catch up after the 2024 season?
"Yes, the engine has always been a safe bet at KTM. It was the backbone of the whole project right from the start. The starts have also become an absolute strength. Now it was the turn of the chassis. In the chassis area, we may have hesitated too much in 2024 because we wanted to bring calm to the action and not constantly test so much new material at the Grand Prix and then quickly bring changes to the track that perhaps had not yet proven themselves sufficiently. Since Wolfgang Felber took over the chassis department again, we have had a breath of fresh air in this area. And on the electronics side, we have also improved the quality with the specialists we now have on board. There are now constant updates that are developed at home and then brought to the race track."
"I'm now talking euphorically about our developments, but the truth about our competitiveness can only be more accurately assessed after the tests in Sepang and Buriram. Because we don't know what our competitors have hatched. We are aware that we can only improve in small steps. The engineers have to delve deeply into the data collected in order to be able to make the necessary progress."
KTM has repeatedly hoped for a top-3 place in the riders' championship after the 2020 season, when Pol Espargaró finished fifth in the world championship, only 4 points behind third-placed Rins. But Brad Binder just managed to finish fourth in the world championship twice. After all, the fast South African, who is considered the longest-serving KTM rider (he already competed in the Red Bull KTM Rookies Cup in 2009, 2010 and 2011), has finished in the top 6 in the MotoGP world championship in each of the last six years.
Due to the financial decline of KTM AG, the racing department had to decide on drastic and painful cost-cutting measures. The contracts of twelve factory riders were not renewed, 40 remained in the squad across all racing series - for Moto3, Moto2, MotoGP, MX, SX, Dakar and Enduro.
KTM, however, assures that the red pen was applied in such a way that performance in the individual championships will not suffer.
But in November, for example, the wind tunnel test in Cologne was called off.
"We have cut out some things that were previously 'nice to have'. And we have come to the conclusion that this wind tunnel test was not vital", explained Pit Beirer to GPOne.com. "Although we book a wind tunnel like this for a whole week and then also take the Moto3 vehicles or a rally motorcycle with us in addition to the MotoGP motorcycles. When we go there, we use the time very effectively. But thanks to the collaboration with the Formula 1 aerodynamicists from Red Bull Racing, we have reached a very high level in terms of aerodynamics after a year and a half. And we no longer want to change the aero package every three months. We have to keep the balance in this area and have therefore recently focused more on the chassis and electronics. Because we expect greater progress there."
Beirer continued: "Yes, we have suffered financial losses in the motorsport budget, we had to part with some riders and teams in order not to lose quality in those disciplines in which we can fight for victories and world titles. We have found many small and large areas in which we can save money without affecting the development of the motorcycles. We are aiming for the maximum competitiveness of the KTM RC16. Nevertheless, we have found potential for savings. This is painful for some of our employees and also for the riders. But we are not cutting costs anywhere where performance is concerned. If we had to stop developing the bikes to the maximum one day, motorsport at world championship level would no longer make sense. And certainly not in MotoGP. A year of standstill in MotoGP means a one-second deficit. Then you're no longer fighting for the podium, but for last place. And that's not an option for the KTM brand."
