Will KTM have F1 Engineers too?

Since KTM debuted in MotoGP in 2017, it has managed to win six victories. Undoubtedly, KTM bikes are one of the most powerful, though the riders have always complained about the difficulty they face in controlling them. Although KTM has won some impressive feats when it boils down to its European competitors such as Ducati and Aprilia, the Austrian brand lacks somewhere.

One of the reasons why Aprilia has been able to step up the championship ladder is because of CEO Massimo Rivola. Since Rivola joined Aprilia in 2017, he has been keen on introducing innovative techniques to improve the machines. Previously being the sports director at Ferrari in Formula 1, he hired his team from the F1 ambit. And one of the key changes Rivola made to the Aprilia team was to hire Formula 1 engineers.

As per the current ranking, Aprilia is second when it comes to securing points in the riders’ championship. Aprilia’s star rider  Aleix Espargaro has secured a total of 168 points this season. Meanwhile, KTM is at the seventh position with Brad having a total of 107 points this season. 

KTM chief Piere is impressed by Rivola’s unconventional thinking and merging of MotoGP and F1 tech to create an unforgiving machine on the tracks. And since KTM has close links with Red Bull, Piere is looking toward implementing a similar technique to KTM. 

As per Piere, he is pretty motivated by the technique adopted by Rivola to introduce the F1 team in Aprilia. And since KTM has a long and fruitful relationship with Red Bull and the brand has always been a winner on F1 tracks, they know just the right talent to hire.

Next year hopefully KTM too will start sourcing out aerodynamic engineers from its partner Red Bull’s F1 team. But whatever the case may be, the bright side of the story is that the teams are hell-bent on introducing new technologies to their bikes to make the competition more intense altogether.