KTM and Tech3 have been working together for years. What’s more, the correct thing would be to say that it is a kind of association, because the place where KTM ends and Tech3 begins is not easy to define, at least from the outside. Once they left Yamaha and joined the Austrian brand, the French team has been less of a satellite and more of a junior team. In fact, it is currently difficult to distinguish the official team’s bikes and those of the Tech3 with the naked eye.
But all relationships have their points of friction, and Hervé Poncharal’s sale of the team to the group headed by Guenther Steiner is being one of them. The Italian-American, who is known for his role in HASS F1 for years, joined the team at the end of last season and is letting himself be loved.
So much so that one of the rumors that are gaining strength is that Tech3 would be negotiating with Honda to bring their motorcycles until 2027. The idea of leaving KTM because they are supposedly competitive, and going to Honda, which, currently, are not, is striking.
What’s more, the KTM 850 project is the one that has been underway the longest, the Austrian firm is betting heavily on it and makes clear the Austrians’ intention to continue betting on the premier category. The problem, according to these rumors, is that losing two motorcycles for next season and the client that is Tech3, who pays for them, could mean a new setback for the interests of the Mattighofen manufacturer.
What happens to KTM if Tech3 goes with Honda?
Precisely this possibility of losing the supposed income would mean that the entire project would have to be supported in the hands of RedBull and KTM itself. Although he is moving forward little by little, he still sees the earthquake that shook the company and almost wiped out everything very close.
Even so, and while it is true that the cost of the project would fall solely in the hands of KTM and Red Bull, it is no less true that, as we said previously, the Tech3 bikes currently have the same main sponsors, therefore it is assumed that only the money that MotoGP offers the French team for the place would be the money that would not arrive. Most likely, those millions of euros were to maintain the Tech3 structure, so in reality it may not have been a catastrophe in the economic sense. Where it would affect would be having fewer motorcycles on the track to collect data, but that is another matter.
For now there does not seem to be a decision on the matter, but what they have confirmed is that Steiner, like other satellite teams, have considered options for 2027 and beyond. If the driver market is going to be interesting, the team market may also bring us some surprises.
