Mirko Cecchini's, team manager at Rivacold Snipers, is competing in the 2025 Moto3 World Championship with 23-year-old veteran Riccardo Rossi (who already competed in 124 Moto3 races) and Nicola Carraro, who's the same age and has competed in 44 Moto3 World Championship races. The Snipers Honda duo is ranked 20th and 21st in the World Championship. Rossi's 5th place in Doha was recorded as his best result of the season so far. The five Honda teams are in a tough position against KTM's dominance as the Pierer Group riders occupy the top eight positions in the World Championship.
In the Constructors Championship, KTM leads with 350, the maximum number of points, ahead of Honda (169 points). The KTM riders have won all 14 races so far in 2025, and the ten Honda riders have only managed two 2nd and two 3rd places. Only in the 2012 and 2013 seasons did Honda bikes fail to achieve a single Moto3 GP victory. The Honda victories back then were secured by the FTR-Honda manufacturer with Romano Fenati, Louis Rossi, and Maverick Viñales. In 2024, Honda managed just one Moto3 GP victory and, this season, Honda has only eight more opportunities to win. It's now certain that KTM will win the Riders World Championship for the eighth time in 14 years, besides their eighth Constructors World Championship since 2012, the first year of the new 250 cc Moto3 category.
The Snipers team, however, has seen much better times, having won the 125cc World Championship in 2004 with Andrea Dovizioso. And, despite KTM's years of dominance, Cecchini has remained loyal to Honda since 2009, after a brief but negative experience with KTM in 2008, which was delivering uncompetitive production racers to customer teams that year.
Mirko Cecchini has been curious for three years about what the final technical Moto3 regulations will look like for 2028. A one-make series with twin-cylinder motorcycles between 700 and 780 cc, producing 90 hp and weighing 120 kg, is now planned. The purchase price for these low-tech production racers is expected to drop to €50,000 Euros.
In an interview with GPOne.com, Cecchini expressed his surprise at these plans. "700 or even 780 cc? That's close to the Moto2 displacement of 765 cc, or even more," the team owner frowned. "And, for fifty thousand euros, a bike like that can probably only come from China."
In fact, CFMOTO has expressed interest. The up-and-coming Chinese motorcycle manufacturer won the Moto3 World Championship for the first time last year with David Alonso and the Aspar team, even if it was with the victorious KTM RC4. Honda, Yamaha, and KTM are also talking about a Moto3 package for 2028, but the Austrians are considered outsiders due to the uncertain financial situation.
"I have nothing against a switch to larger-displacement Moto3 motorcycles," Cecchini said. "But it would make more sense to leave chassis production open, like in the Moto2, so that various companies can at least build chassis for the Moto3. That would be better than a stock bike that you can't improve anything on. Our team has been competing in the lower class for more than twenty years but, with stock bikes, we wouldn't be able to fully take advantage of the experience of our technicians."
Since 1949, when the Motorcycle World Championship began, this popular racing series has been reserved for prototypes. One-make motorcycles have so far only been used in the boring MotoE class.
"Switching to production bikes isn't smart for us," Cecchini said bluntly. "That would significantly reduce the interest of the Moto3, including among spectators."
The often merciless duel between the giant, Honda, and the challenger, KTM, long considered off-road specialists, has so far given the Moto3 World Championship its special flair.
Is it possible to beat the current lap times of 250cc single-cylinder, four-stroke Moto3 bikes with 700 cc, 120 kg, and 90 hp? Many experts doubt this, although this is the clear intention of Dorna officials. Furthermore, the new concept is fundamentally intended to raise the riding standards of young Moto3 riders.
Cecchini also expressed his concerns: "I can't imagine that lap times will drop with these stock bikes, which are only allowed to cost fifty thousand euros. But, for me, it's not a problem if Dorna relocates its positions. But I repeat, using production bikes in the World Championship doesn't make sense, yet, we'll continue anyway. We're excited to see what other plans Liberty Media has for GP racing. I hope nothing changes to the detriment of the Moto3. There were even rumors at one point that the Moto3 would only race in Europe in the future."
Photo courtesy Gerhard Schiel