Investors “pushing for Ducatis” for unexpected MotoGP team
Could Ducati regain its seventh and eighth MotoGP bikes in the coming years?
Potential new investors, headed by Guenther Steiner, into the Tech3 MotoGP team are reportedly chasing Ducati machinery for the French squad which has been with KTM since 2019.
The US-based investors into Tech3 are thought to be Moneygram, according to Sky Sport Italy, which was previously the aforementioned Steiner’s partner at Haas F1, where the Italian-born German-speaker was Team Principal until 2023, having joined the American outfit at the beginning of its F1 preparations in 2014.
Tech3 could still remain with KTM in 2026, but it seems that the French team’s prospective American investors see its long-term future with a different manufacturer.
Future Tech3 investors eye up Ducati
Indeed, Sky Sport Italy reports that Tech3’s prospective new investors are “Pushing for Ducatis”.
Such a move would of course mean a departure from KTM, although Herve Poncharal spoke in Aragon of his commitment to the Austrian brand and his desire to continue with them.
It would also mean a return, of sorts, to the position of MotoGP between 2023–2024, when Ducati had the most bikes with eight and Yamaha the least with two.
In the scenario of Tech3 leaving for Ducati, the Bologna marque would return to its previous number while KTM would assume the position of Yamaha in the past two seasons.
Perhaps, though, other manufacturers could be an option for the French team.
At one point, it was thought that Yamaha would be interested in reuniting with its former long-term partner (Tech3 were with Yamaha from 1999–2018 before switching to KTM).
But Sky Italy reports that Yamaha, which expanded back to four bikes in MotoGP this year after being with only two since the Trackhouse team (then called RNF) left it for Aprilia at the end of 2022, is not an option for Tech3 to leave KTM.
Honda, on the other hand, would reportedly be willing to step in and increase their representation on the grid from four to six in 2026 – something that was originally planned for 2027.
A 2026 expansion for Honda would, then, perhaps tie neatly with Poncharal’s belief that, should his team’s ownership structure change either partly or completely at the end of 2025, 2026 “should be a transition year to be fully ready from 2027,” as he told the MotoGP international TV feed during the FP2 session on Saturday at the Aragon Grand Prix.
Alex joined the Crash.net team in August of 2024 having covered consumer and racing motorcycle news at Visordown for two years.
