Is KTM on the Brink of Withdrawal from MotoGP?

JFM01 said:

They'd damn sure pay pretty well.
Toprak and Pedro at the Honda factory team in 2026, make it happen!

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AnnoyingTwit said:

It would be a terrible waste unless the team improves considerably.

Given what I read about Razgatlioglu, I'm thinking that given how refined and sophisticated his riding style is (e.g. coming into corners with the back tyre off the ground), I wonder if he's very much adapted to WSBK racing, and whether that style will work in MotoGP or not. I'm sure that other top-level riders will be equally specialised, and I wonder if swapping from a series to another series becomes more difficult the more sophisticated a rider's riding style becomes.

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AnnoyingTwit said:

Once a sport achieves 'big bucks' status, it stops being a sport really. I disagree that football has avoided this, particularly in the UK where I live. I also don't think it was the change to 4-strokes that was the crucial factor. Even if that change hadn't been made, I think we would be in the same situation. I feel that the change to 4-strokes was to ensure some sort of match between what is being raced, and what is being sold, to keep the manufacturers engaged.

The crossing of the Rubicon point for me was when coverage was no longer widely available to all on free-to-air TV, but only via various subscription and paid sources. This creates the bigger revenue stream that makes sports a financial plaything, rather than real sport.

I still watch and enjoy MotoGP, but it is now something different from what it was decades ago. The same is happening to all sports. As soon as a sport becomes popular enough that people will pay significant amounts to watch it, eventually that will happen.

EDIT: KTM employees (unless this has changed) to go unpaid over Christmas. KTM workers to go unpaid over Christmas. It's going to be hard to justify a MotoGP team and their status as a constructor if their employees are having their paychecks delayed like this. If it continues to happen, even occasionally.

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mikesbytes said:

If overall the tyres were fairly even then multiple tyre manufacturers is good because it adds diversity to who podiums, however if one tyre manufacturer has a significant advantage then it reduces podium diversity

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AnnoyingTwit said:

I remember Kawasaki fulfilling the terms of their contract.

Acosta to Gresini? Not this year, but I could imagine Acosta being preferred to Alex Marquez and Fermin Aldeguer if Fermin doesn't step up and Marquez doesn't step up to a higher level. VR46 may be a possibility. Clearly Aprillia is there too. Not sure the Japanese teams will hit the front soon enough to be an option.

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jvs9932 said:

It seems like the writing is on the wall for KTM to leave. Maybe not in 2025 but the new regulations will force them to develop a new bike for 2027 while maintaining and improving the existing one for the next 2 years. Unless Red Bull steps in and offers a lot of financial support, I think that kind of investment has to be nearly impossible given their current financial woes.

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DavidSim said:

Wow if you think KTM is trouble, check out the shape that VW is in at the moment. VW has the largest corporate debt of any company in history, more than 300 billion dollars, with 35,000 employee terminations apparently in the cards over time. Could Ducati be the next company to face the axe ?

Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A is an Italian motorcycle manufacturing company headquartered in Bologna, Italy. The company is directly owned by Italian automotive manufacturer Lamborghini, whose German parent company is Audi, itself owned by the Volkswagen Group.

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