Moto2: Tech3 confirms KTM switch

'It makes sense for Tech3 to have also the Moto2 team racing with KTM machinery'

05 May 2018

Tech3 has confirmed it will cease running its own Moto2 chassis from the 2019 season and switch to the KTM frame.

The decision follows the French team's decision to leave Yamaha and become KTM's first satellite MotoGP team from next season.

Tech3 has run its own Moto2 chassis since the class replaced 250cc in 2010, winning one race and claiming six podiums.

However, Yamaha does not participate in Moto2 and it would have made little since for the French team to race against its new MotoGP partner in 2019.

“The Moto2 is a class that I particularly like and where we’ve been involved since the very beginning," said team boss Herve Poncharal.

"So far, we’ve been building our own machine, but having signed a three years partnership with KTM in the MotoGP class, it makes sense for Tech3 to have also the Moto2 team racing with KTM machinery.

"We are of course very happy and proud to have the whole Tech3 racing activities linked to the KTM Factory.”

Switching to KTM will also save Tech3 from needing to redesign its Moto2 chassis for the start of the new era of Triumph engines.

In the past, Poncharal has expressed frustration at top riders being unwilling to race with the Tech3 chassis - an issue he will no longer face after switching to KTM, which won the last three races of its inaugural 2017 season and has been on the podium twice in the opening rounds of 2018 with Miguel Oliveira.

Olivera or factory KTM Moto2 team-mate Brad Binder are expected to get one of the new Tech3 MotoGP seats next year. The other rider is less clear, but Hafizh Syahrin is said to be in with a chance of staying.

Former factory KTM Moto3 rider Bo Bendsneyder and Remy Gardner currently form the Tech3 Moto2 line-up. Both will undoubtedly be keen to remain for the start of the KTM-Tech3-Triumph era.