Red Bull KTM Factory Racing is the

factory team A works team (sometimes factory team, company team) is a sports team that is financed and run by a manufacturer or other business. Sometimes, works teams contain or are entirely made up of employees of the supporting company. Association footb ...

KTM KTM AG (Kraftfahrzeug Trunkenpolz Mattighofen, formerly KTM Sportmotorcycle AG) is an Austrian motorcycle, bicycle and sports car manufacturer owned by Pierer Mobility AG and the Indian manufacturer Bajaj Auto. It was formed in 1992 but traces ...

active in the

MotoGP Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start ...

World Championship supported by sponsor, drinks manufacturer

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks of Austria, Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With 38% market share, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2019. Since its launch in 1987, more than 100 billion cans of Red Bull have been sold worldwid ...

History

Development of the RC16

have a well established presence amongst off-road motorcycle sport and decided to enter

in the premier class of motorcycle

road racing Road racing is a form of motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held either on a closed circuit or on a street circuit utilizing temporarily closed public roads. Originally, road races were held almost entirely on publ ...

. In September 2014,

Pit Beirer Pit Beirer (born 19 October 1972) is a German former professional motocross racer and current Motorsports Director for the KTM motorcycle company. He competed in the Motocross World Championships from 1989 to 2003. Motocross racing career Born ...

announced that KTM were to start in MotoGP for

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

, even though work on the project had not started. A year and a half before their MotoGP debut, KTM tested their

V4 engine A V4 engine is a four-cylinder piston engine where the cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The V4 engine is less common compared to straight-four engines. However, V4 engines have been used in automobiles ...

for the first time, a configuration designed to use a steel

trellis frame A motorcycle frame is a motorcycle's core structure. It supports the engine, provides a location for the steering and rear suspension, and supports the rider and any passenger or luggage. Also attached to the frame are the fuel tank and battery. A ...

chassis only used by this team. In October 2015, the

KTM RC16 The KTM RC16 is a prototype grand prix racing motorcycle which was developed to race in the MotoGP series by KTM, starting from the 2017 season. History The RC16 made its debut as a wildcard entry at the 2016 Valencian Community motorcycle Gr ...

was track-tested on for the first time at the

Red Bull Ring The Red Bull Ring is a motorsport race track in Spielberg, Styria, Austria. The race circuit was founded as Österreichring (translation: Austrian Circuit) and hosted the Austrian Grand Prix for 18 consecutive years, from to . It was later sh ...

with

Alex Hofmann Alexander Hofmann (born 25 May 1980) is a retired Grand Prix motorcycle racing, Grand Prix motorcycle racer, who now works on German television coverage of the sport. He is nicknamed 'The Hoff' in English-speaking countries, a nod to David Hasse ...

as the first test rider on the bike. The team carried out further testing at circuits such as

Circuit Ricardo Tormo Circuit Ricardo Tormo, also known as ''Circuit de Valencia'' and officially named ''Circuit de la Comunitat Valenciana Ricardo Tormo'', is a motorsport race track located in Cheste (Valencian Community, Spain) and built in 1999. The track is n ...

Circuito de Jerez Circuito de Jerez – Ángel Nieto (formerly known as Circuit of Jerez and Circuito Permanente de Jerez), is a racing circuit located close to the city of Jerez de la Frontera, south of Seville and deep within the sherry-producing region in th ...

Brno Circuit The Masaryk circuit ( cz, Masarykův okruh) or Masarykring, also referred to as the Brno Circuit, refers to two motorsport race tracks located in Brno, Czech Republic. The original street circuit was made up of public roads, and at its longest m ...

Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli The Misano World Circuit (officially known as Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli or Misano Circuit Sic 58, and before 2006 called Circuito Internazionale Santa Monica) is a race track located next to the town of Misano Adriatico (Province of R ...

and

Mugello Circuit Mugello Circuit () is a race track in Scarperia e San Piero, Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The circuit length is . It has 15 turns and a long straight. The circuit stadium stands have a capacity of 50,000. Grand Prix motorcycle racing host an ann ...

whilst using test riders,

Mika Kallio Mika Kallio (born 8 November 1982) is a Finnish Grand Prix motorcycle racer, currently serving as the lead test and development rider for the Red Bull KTM team in MotoGP. He debuted in the 125cc World Championship with the Finnish rookie team Aj ...

Randy De Puniet Randy de Puniet (born 14 February 1981) is a road racer of motorcycles from France. He competed in Grands Prix racing between 1998 and 2014, where he achieved five wins in the 250cc class. He also competed in the Superbike World Championship d ...

Karel Abraham Karel Abraham (born 2 January 1990) is a retired motorcycle racer from the Czech Republic. He competed in Grand Prix motorcycle racing from to , riding in the 125cc, 250cc, Moto2 and MotoGP classes, with the exception of 2016, when he raced in t ...

and

Thomas Lüthi Thomas Lüthi (born 6 September 1986) is a Swiss sporting director at Prüstel GP, and former Grand Prix motorcycle racer. He spent 19 years in Grand Prix world championships, becoming one of only six riders to reach 300 race starts, spending m ...

Presentation and Wildcard

The team presented the RC16 to the public for the first time before the start of the 2016 Austrian GP with test riders Kallio and Hofmann doing a couple of laps before announcing that Mika Kallio would have a wildcard entry for the 2016 Valencian GP aboard the RC16, making the official debut race for the machine and KTM into the MotoGP category. In November 2016, Kallio rode the RC16 as a wildcard at the final race in Valencia, qualifying in 20th place. After initially keeping up with the pace during the opening stages of the race, the bike's rear wheel sensors malfunctioned forcing Kallio to retire from the race.

Final Testing

Pol Espargaró Pol Espargaró Villà (born 10 June 1991) is a Spanish Grand Prix motorcycle racer who for 2023 will ride in the MotoGP class for the newly named GasGas Factory Racing team, a development of Tech3. He previously spent two years with Repsol Hond ...

and Bradley Smith tested the RC16 during the first official winter test, just one day after the final grand prix of 2016 season at Valencia. This was the first time that the pair had ridden KTMs after leaving the

Tech 3 Tech3 is a motorcycle racing team competing in the MotoGP class World Championship under the name Tech3 GasGas Factory Racing. They also compete in the Moto3 World Championship under the name Red Bull KTM Tech3 and the MotoE World Cup under the ...

team where they had been teammates for three years. KTM had a private test at the Jerez circuit towards the end of November. Due to Espargaró still being under contract with

Yamaha Yamaha may refer to: * Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services, established in 1887. The company is the largest shareholder of Yamaha Motor Company (below). ** Yamaha Music Foundation, an organization estab ...

at the time, he was unable to test which meant that Mika Kallio stood in for him. In January and February, KTM took part in the official pre-season tests at

Sepang International Circuit The Sepang International Circuit ( ms, Litar Antarabangsa Sepang) is a motorsport race track in Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. It is located approximately south of Kuala Lumpur, and close to Kuala Lumpur International Airport. It hosted the For ...

and

Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit The Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit is a motor racing circuit located near Ventnor, on Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia. The current circuit was first used in 1956. History Road circuit Motor racing on Phillip Island began in 1928 with t ...

as well as the final test at

Losail International Circuit The Losail International Circuit or Lusail International Circuit (Arabic: حلبة لوسيل الدولية) is a motor racing circuit located just outside the city of Lusail, north of Doha, Qatar. Built in just under a year by 1,000 workers ...

just two weeks before the first Grand Prix of

in March. The team unveiled the bike at their headquarters at the end of February along with

Red Bull KTM Ajo Ajo Motorsport is a Finnish Grand Prix motorcycle racing team, currently competing in the Moto2 and Moto3 classes under the name Red Bull KTM Ajo and in the MotoE class under the name Avant Ajo MotoE. The team's founder and principal is former ...

Moto3 Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start of ...

title defender and their new

Moto2 Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the premier class of motorcycle road racing events held on road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held since the start of ...

KTM competitor.

2017 Debut Season

The team made their debut in the MotoGP category at the

2017 Qatar motorcycle Grand Prix The 2017 Qatar motorcycle Grand Prix was the first round of the 2017 MotoGP season. It was held at the Losail International Circuit in Doha on 26 March 2017. For all the three classes, the starting grid was formed by each rider's best time from a ...

; qualifying in 22nd and 23rd, they were able to finish in 16th and 17th six seconds apart. The team scored their first points in their second grand prix in Argentina, finishing 14th and 15th. At the 2017 French motorcycle Grand Prix Espargaró finished in 12th place in the race which was the best result until he finished in 11th place in the

Dutch TT The Dutch Tourist Trophy, also known as the ''TT Assen'', is an annual Dutch motorsport event established in 1925 for road racing motorcycles held on the TT Circuit Assen, also known as the ‘Cathedral of Speed'. The event attained world champ ...

, and qualified 7th at the

2017 German motorcycle Grand Prix The 2017 German motorcycle Grand Prix was the ninth round of the 2017 MotoGP season. It was held at the Sachsenring in Hohenstein-Ernstthal on 2 July 2017. Classification MotoGP * Héctor Barberá was disqualified for ignoring a jump start ri ...

in which Mika Kallio made his second appearance on the RC16 as a wildcard. Kallio finished 16th whilst Espargaró and Smith collected more points. At the 2017 Czech Republic motorcycle Grand Prix Espargaró finished in 9th which was the team's first top 10 in a MotoGP Grand Prix. Pol would reach this feat again at the 2017 Australian motorcycle Grand Prix.

2018 season

Expectations from KTM were to step up their results. This had happened at the start of the season with Espargaró finishing in the points a total of seven times in a row. Smith struggled to get the same start to the season that Espargaró had. At the

2018 Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix The 2018 Spanish motorcycle Grand Prix was the fourth round of the 2018 MotoGP season. It was held at the Circuito de Jerez-Ángel Nieto in Jerez de la Frontera on 6 May 2018. Classification MotoGP Moto2 Moto3 * Darryn Binder suffered a d ...

it was announced that

Johann Zarco Johann Zarco (born 16 July 1990) is a French Grand Prix motorcycle racer, best known for winning the and Moto2 World Championships with his 2015 triumph being a record points total for the intermediate class. He rides for Pramac Racing. Zarc ...

would replace Smith for 2019. During the

2018 German motorcycle Grand Prix The 2018 German motorcycle Grand Prix was the ninth round of the 2018 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season, 2018 MotoGP season. It was held at the Sachsenring in Hohenstein-Ernstthal on 15 July 2018. Classification MotoGP Franco Morbidelli was r ...

Kallio suffered a major knee injury during the practice sessions. Injury would then befall Espargaró who broke his collar bone in a warm-up session in preparation for the

2018 Czech Republic motorcycle Grand Prix The 2018 Czech Republic motorcycle Grand Prix was the tenth round of the 2018 MotoGP season. It was held at the Masaryk Circuit in Brno on 5 August 2018. Fabio Di Giannantonio took his first career victory in the Moto3 race. Classification MotoG ...

. Smith would be the stand-alone KTM factory rider, with Espargaró trying to return from injury too soon resulting in poor results and even not starting a Grand Prix. After a tough season and not meeting as many expectations, the

2018 Valencian Community motorcycle Grand Prix The 2018 Valencian Community motorcycle Grand Prix was the nineteenth and final round of the 2018 MotoGP season. It was held at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia on 18 November 2018. In the Moto3 race, Red Bull KTM Ajo wildcard Can Öncü m ...

would become the most successful day in KTM so far in Grand Prix Racing. KTM and Espargaró would, respectively, take both their first podiums in the top class of motorcycle grand prix racing with Smith ending his KTM career with a personal best finish with 8th place in the torrential rain of Valencia.

2019 season

In August 2019, contracted rider

announced he would not ride for KTM in 2020. In September 2019, the KTM team announced Zarco would not ride in the remaining six events from 22 September, with test rider

taking his place.Zarco axed for 'constant bad words in press, rider safety, says KTM
''Visor Down'', 20 September 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2019

2020 season

On 9 August 2020, KTM secured their first MotoGP win, and their first dry weather podium with Brad Binder at the Czech GP.

2021 season

2022 season

Results

By rider

MotoGP

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

)

References

External links

* {{KTM MotoGP Motorcycle racing teams Motorsport in Austria Red Bull sports teams Dakar rally racing teams Motorcycle racing teams established in 2014 2014 establishments in Austria