It is not known whether the negotiations between CFMOTO and KTM regarding the acquisition of KTM Racing AG, the KTM Factory Racing division and slots in MotoGP will have a successful outcome. What is undeniable, however, is that the new Bajaj Mobility AG (the former Pierer Mobility AG) faces serious challenges. On the one hand, the KTM RC16 must finally be transformed into a winning bike for 2026. Otherwise, Acosta and other top riders will consider switching to another brand. At the same time, the 850 cc prototype for 2027 and beyond needs further development, which will entail huge costs. Bajaj has no intention of funding the MotoGP project, which is why KTM's plans for MotoGP will not be feasible without a substantial financial injection.
Also present at the talks with CFMOTO at the "House of Brands" in Munderfing on Tuesday was a delegation from Hong Kong-based private equity fund Hillhouse Investment. "Hillhouse Investment seeks to leverage its investment expertise to help high-quality companies thrive over the long term. Our goal is to create alignment with our investments in leading companies and create value for all stakeholders," has been Hillhouse's motto for 20 years.
KTM is the only one of the five manufacturers in MotoGP that has not won a race in dry conditions in five years. Its top rider and outstanding talent, Pedro Acosta, criticizes the RC16's weaknesses every weekend, which prevent it from keeping up with rivals Ducati and Aprilia.
KTM lost its technical director, Fabiano Sterlacchini, who moved to Aprilia Racing in the summer of 2024. Although motorsports director Pit Beirer had downplayed the loss, the bearded engineer ensured that Aprilia scored three MotoGP wins in a single year for the first time in 2025, as well as three Sprint wins with Bezzecchi. In the constructors' championship, Aprilia (despite problems derived from world champion Jorge Martin's injury) is in second place behind Ducati, with a 37-point lead over KTM. Recall that in 2023 and 2024 KTM had secured second place in the constructors' championship.
Despite the financial turmoil, KTM has returned to a regular fight for the podium. However, it was not until the twelfth Grand Prix of the year, in Brno, that Acosta had managed to get on the podium for the first time in 2025. Since then, the Spaniard has had 11 top-three finishes, five on Sunday and six on Saturday, two more than in his rookie season in 2024. Last year, however, there were 20 Grands Prix instead of 22, and Acosta celebrated his 10th and 11th podium finishes only at the 21st event in Portugal. At least the Spaniard still has a chance to overtake Bagnaia for fourth place in the championship standings at the last race in Valencia. The score is 288 to 285 in favor of the Italian.
While all the riders who ride the Ducati Desmosedici 2025 have already finished at least once in the top three, KTM riders Bastianini, Viñales and Binder have only scored two podiums: "Beast" took third place in Catalunya in Sunday's race and also in the Brno Sprint. Binder, Bastianini and Viñales currently occupy the disappointing 12th, 14th and 17th positions in the championship standings.
GPone.com has repeatedly denied recurring speculation that Red Bull might take over KTM's MotoGP project. In fact, the Austrian energy drink giant has other intentions. Red Bull wants to finally get back to winning ways against the many teams and riders sponsored by rival Monster, including Lenovo Ducati, Pertamina VR46, Aprilia Racing, Monster Yamaha and others.
Therefore, preparations are underway for 2027. Red Bull could then presumably take over Lenovo Ducati's advertising space, replacing Monster, thus resuming its collaboration with world champion Marc Márquez, who competed as a Red Bull athlete from 2007 until the end of 2024, already in the Spanish CEV 125 International Championship before his World Championship debut at Estoril in 2008 riding the Red Bull Factory KTM 125.
It is also possible that Ducati Lenovo will race in 2027 with a Red Bull Dream Team formed by Marc Márquez and Pedro Acosta. The new world champion does not personally sponsor the Monster, but rather the Estrella Galicia 0.0 beer company. Only on the bike, overalls and team uniform does the number 93 bear the M artiglieta logo.
The pair of Marc Márquez and Pedro Acosta were already slated for a third KTM MotoGP team in the summer of 2023, something that KTM team managers Aki Ajo and Francesco Guidotti longed for. However, Dorna had not granted KTM the two additional slots.
A return to the Honda MotoGP Factory Team is also conceivable for Red Bull, if top riders who fit the Austrians' marketing concept are brought into the team. For example, Jorge Martin, who earned his first chevrons in the Red Bull Rookies Cup and continued to promote the Salzburg-based beverage company even after his controversial move from the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 team to Pramac Ducati. Red Bull withdrew from HRC at the end of 2023 after Márquez moved to the Gresini Ducati team.
In 2025, Red Bull was present in MotoGP with the four official KTM riders, as well as Johann Zarco, Miguel Oliveira, Alex Márquez, Dani Pedrosa, Pol Espargaró, and Jorge Martin. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pramac Yamaha) and Diogo Moreira (LCR Honda) will join them in 2026.
Red Bull executives, who never seek the limelight, are now waiting to see how the situation at KTM will develop. The slow flow of information between Mattighofen and Fuschl was already criticized a year ago by the main sponsor, which co-finances the "Ready to Race" strategy with 15 million euros a year.
Even under KTM's new CEO, Gottfried Neumeister, KTM remains an unfathomable black box for Red Bull. Red Bull was not even aware of the discussions with CFMOTO and Hillhouse Investment. The fact that these secret negotiations still reached the public is considered yet another PR disaster for KTM.
Since Brad Binder saved the day for KTM for years after his MotoGP debut, but has not won since Spielberg 2021 and has plummeted to 12th in the championship in 2025, he will have a new chief technician for 2026: Phil Marron. The Irishman was recently responsible for Toprak Razgatlioglu's two wins at BMW. Binder's longtime chief technician, Andres Madrid, will move to Enea Bastianini's pit box.
Andres Madrid was already Binder's data technician in the Red Bull KTM Ajo team during Brad's Moto3 title win in 2016. In the Moto2 World Championship from 2017 to 2019 and later in the MotoGP World Championship, Madrid was his chief data technician.
Whether KTM can continue to finance its MotoGP project with two teams, four riders under contract, and test riders Dani Pedrosa and Pol Espargaró, if no investors step in, and if Rajiv Bajaj demands a 50 percent cost reduction, will be clear in the coming months.
In the United States, the Red Bull KTM team alone boasts three expensive 450cc motocross and supercross stars: Eli Tomac, Aaron Plessinger and the returning Jorge Prado. "This is no way to save money," commented one motocross expert. Meanwhile, Frenchman Tom Vialle, MX2 world champion in 2020 and 2021 and AMA Supercross 250 East champion in 2024 and 2025, has been picked up by Honda. The biggest loss for KTM, however, is the departure of MXGP superstar Jeffrey Herlings to Yamaha. The Dutchman has raced for Red Bull KTM since 2009, achieving a record 112 GP wins, winning the MX2 World Championship three times and the MXGP World Championship twice for KTM.