Since KTM made public the complicated economic situation it was going through, one of the focuses of attention has gone to its racing department. Although, as we already know, an attempt was made to isolate it by giving it its own identity, the reality is that the KTM manufacturer still has a lot to do with KTM Racing and therefore, the racing department is also having to take measures.
Leaving aside the rumors that are circulating, what we can know thanks to the interview that Speedweek has had with Pit Beirer, is that the Motorsport director of the Austrian firm is working together with his team to reduce costs and contribute to the recovery of the parent company.
And Beirer and KTM have a 100-point plan, but they have also seen how some partners and sponsors are supporting the project by increasing their investments. Beirer himself stated: «Our partners and sponsors have helped us get through the difficult times of the last few weeks. Several people have increased budgets to guarantee the future of our competition department«.
The situation at KTM is already affecting the racing departments
Within this sanitation plan and despite the help from sponsors, the truth is that it is not being easy to manage the situation in order to continue ensuring performance. To achieve this, they have already had to make tough decisions and one of them is to reduce the overall racing program to only 12 drivers.
But reducing this program to 12 pilots also implies dispensing with the services that these pilots require and that Beirer himself quantifies as two or four people per pilot, which implies the loss of many jobs: «We have taken measures for a long time. When the contracts ended, it was easier to change things compared to now, when the contracts are in place. A very simple, but also very painful, measure has been to reduce our global program to 12 pilots. Each pilot has two, three or four related employees. “The decision to disband individual teams or exclude certain drivers from some categories has particularly affected us on the racing front, and we have lost many jobs.”
The battle of Beirer and his team continues and they are also giving up minor cuts but, in the end, important when you are talking about teams with so many members: “We have made some drastic cuts that will now help us on the bottom line. This also depends on small details, such as converting single rooms into double rooms. If you look at all the little things, in the end you realize that together they add up to a considerable amount.”
To finish off, Beirer stressed the importance of continuing the development of the motorcycles, a vital part of the “Ready to Race” philosophy of the Austrian firm all these years: “This year we have won 13 world titles in different sports. This is only possible if we continue developing the motorcycles. None of the sports we participate in are easy. In competition and for our customers, ‘Ready to Race’ means building a competitive motorcycle. For this reason, our heart, our soul and a large part of the budget are allocated to the product, to the motorcycle.”
