With theannouncement of the departure of Mahindra from the Moto3 World Championship at the end of this season to concentrate on its automobile project in Formula E, only Honda and KTM remain to equip the 32 pilots of a field composed this year of 15 Honda, 11 KTM and 6 Mahindra and Peugeot.
Until now, the regulations require each manufacturer to provide up to 14 motorcycles, and if Honda does not really want to make an additional effort (the motorcycles are sold at a loss), KTM will replace the absent Mahindras, by promising a technical upgrade of their 2018 models, the 2017 being slightly behind this year compared to the Japanese motorcycles.
So, barring any last minute upheaval, the teams CIP, Asparagus et Saxoprint should ride Austrian next year.
However, Dorna is trying to encourage the arrival of a new manufacturer for the coming seasons, and has relaxed the regulations by authorizing a possible new arrival to supply only 6 motorcycles the first year, instead of the 14 mentioned above.
In the absence of news from the Ducati project, Danny Aldridge, the Director of MotoGP, told crash.net that the Italian company TM, who races in the FIM CEV Junior World Championship, had made its interest known and, as a result, the regulations were also modified to allow them to make wildcards in the Grand Prix.
A temperature check undoubtedly necessary to understand the real level of the Grands Prix, before a possible plunge into the deep end in 2019…
