With the victory of Miguel Oliveira and the third place of Pol Espargaró obtained at the Styrian Grand Prix, KTM obtained 4 concession points (3+1) which were added to the 3 already received following the success of Brad Binder in Brno .
7 concession points is more than the 6 which are enough to lose the advantages granted by MotoGP regulations to emerging manufacturers...
These advantages, intended to help manufacturers reach the level of the best, are diverse and varied, and concern development and testing as well as equipment. In addition, the current situation has frozen a certain number of provisions, and it is therefore useful to take stock of the current situation of the Mattighofen manufacturer.
What has KTM lost, effective immediately?
Only one thing: the right for its registered drivers to participate in private tests in unlimited quantities, limited only by the number of 120 tires allocated per registered driver.
In practice, KTM therefore receives 240 tires for its official team, which could be used in private tests, on any circuit, by Pol Espargaró, Brad Binder and Dani Pedrosa, plus 240 for the Tech3 team with Miguel Oliveira and Iker Lecuona .
From now on, only Dani Pedrosa has the right to do private tests, which he has just done in Misano. As a reminder, testing on a circuit that hosts a Grand Prix must take place at least 15 days before the event, which is obviously the case for Pedrosa's last test at Misano.
What will KTM lose next year?
- First of all, KTM will have to define 3 circuits on which Dani Pedrosa can test. We don’t yet know KTM’s choice but we can assume that the Red Bull Ring will be one of them…
- Each full driver will no longer be entitled to 9 engines but to 7 (or 5 instead of the current 7 if the restrictions linked to the health crisis remain).
- The engines will no longer be freely developed but frozen after approval at the start of the year.
- A maximum of 3 wildcards will be allowed instead of the 6 authorized (if these are authorized, which is not the case this year due to the health crisis). In addition, these cannot take place during consecutive Grands Prix.
In practice, and especially with the current exceptional restrictions, most of these provisions are hardly bothersome for KTM: contrary to what is said here and there, the incumbent KTM riders have done very few private tests this year and, on the other hand, KTM seems far from abusing all the possibilities that the dealerships still allow it until the end of the year with regard to engines.
Indeed, to date, Pol Espargaró has only put 3 engines on track, Brad Binder 4, 2 of which still seem very fresh, Miguel Oliveira 3 and Iker Lecuona 3 (one of which was retired in Brno, and we can assume that he will inaugurate one a new one in Misano). For the moment, only HRC and Cal Crutchlow have been more economical, with 2 units used (for two motorcycles).
These details show that the Austrian manufacturer has been able to build its spectacular progress on very solid foundations, which should really start to worry its opponents. After all, Brad Binder is only 21 points behind Fabio Quartararo in the championship, Miguel Oliveira 27 and Pol Espargaró 35!
However, the story does not end there, as KTM has already taken the lead for 2021…
To be continued…
