News 20 Jul 2016

KTM to make factory MotoGP debut in Valencia wildcard

Austrian manufacturer makes its first group test appearance.

Source: Supplied.

Source: Supplied.

KTM Factory Racing will fast-forward its official premier class race debut at the final round of the 2016 MotoGP World Championship in Valencia, Spain, later this year on 11-13 November.

Test rider Mika Kallio confirmed rumours of the Austrian brand’s first appearance in the category following a successful opening day of testing at the Red Bull Ring, Austria, yesterday.

Kallio (1m26.056s) and fellow test KTM test rider Tom Luthi (1m26.405s) were just over two seconds off the pace of Ducati-mounted day one leaders Andrea Dovizioso (1m23.764s) and Andrea Iannone (1m24.347s).

“Around two seconds behind the fastest guys at the moment is quite good,” said Kallio. “We still have time to work before we come to the Valencia race.”

It’s not the first time a manufacturer has scored a wildcard to contest the final round of the season prior to making a fulltime commitment to the series, with Suzuki using the Valencia GP in 2014 as an opportunity to gauge its progress.

The KTM MotoGP project was initially announced in September of 2014, with Alex Hofmann carrying out the opening test in November 2015. Yesterday’s test in Austria marked the first time that KTM completed a public test with the established teams in the championship.

Spain’s Pol Espargaro and Britain’s Bradley Smith will pilot the KTM machine throughout the 2017 and 2018 seasons, transferring from their current Monster Energy Yamaha Tech3 squad for the new season. They will debut the RC16 post-race at Valencia in November.

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