‘We’ve lost so many’ - KTM rider wary of engine reserves for remaining MotoGP races

KTM’s Brad Binder admits “it’s going to get a bit tricky” managing his depleted MotoGP engine allocation in the remaining races after numerous technical issues.

The Austrian manufacturer battled numerous problems with the RC16’s engine in the early part of the 2026 season.

This prompted KTM to reduce the amount of revs available to its riders while it pleaded with the manufacturers’ association to unseal its engines to fix the problem.

That was eventually granted to KTM, with a fix now in place.

However, due to these problems, all KTM riders have lost at least one engine from their allocation. Pedro Acosta has had two withdrawn, while Brad Binder has lost three.

Under the current regulations, KTM riders are permitted to use eight engines, though the final one cannot be entered into their allocation until the 19th round of the season.

Binder has just one fresh engine left in his allocation before that point, ahead of the 13th stop on the calendar at Aragon this weekend.

Engine two from his allocation has been used at 11 events, while unit five has been used at four events and unit six at three.

Speaking on Thursday at Aragon, Binder admits he’s “going to have to be good” to his remaining engines to get to the end of the season.

“I haven’t spoken to the guys too much,” he said when asked if he will have more engine power available to him now KTM’s fix is in place.

“They told me that they fixed what was broken there. So, yeah, I imagine we should be good now; the only issue I have is I’ve lost so many.

“I’m going to have to be good to them, but it is what it is; that’s part of motorsports at the end of the day.

“So we should be able to scrape through until the end of the year, barring any mishaps.”

Pressed further on the fixes to KTM’s engines, Binder added: “I’m not too sure at the moment, to be honest.

“I haven’t had the meeting yet with the guys; I just know they told me that they’ve changed whatever they thought was blowing them up.

“Well, I think there’s still no guarantee we’re going to make it through the whole year because we’ve lost so many engines early on, so I think it’s going to get a bit tricky. Let’s see.”

The penalties for using an engine outside your allocation are dependent on when that unit is put into circulation.

Should that unit be installed before the sprint, the offending rider must start both races from pitlane.

If that engine is fitted before the grand prix, the rider must start from pitlane in that race and in the sprint at the next event.

A 25-second time penalty will be issued in a flag-to-flag race if the bike a rider has changed to during their pitstop is fitted with an engine outside of their allocation.