Following Pit Beirer's sentence collected by our colleague Günther Wiesinger from the German site speedweek, “the option on Miguel expires this summer, but we have already used it”, we asked for some additional clarification from Hervé Poncharal regarding the very high probability that Miguel Oliveira will still appear in the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team in 2020…
Hervé Poncharal : “first of all, I am very, very ashamed to invade the columns of Paddock-GP. I don’t look at my navel and I don’t want you to be assimilated to the voice of the master…”.
No, it's us who are calling you and it's a simple coincidence of the calendar if the news is juxtaposed with one of your interviews...
" Yes. That being said, it is clear today that Miguel Oliveira has a contract with the KTM factory. He is therefore an official KTM rider, with a KTM Austria contract, and he is placed with Tech3. In his contract there is an option for 2020, and at the moment everyone is very positive about lifting this option, so that Miguel can continue riding an official KTM in the MotoGP category at Tech3.”
“On the other hand, I think that what has been written in certain media is putting the cart before the horse a little because even if all the parties want to continue together, it is clear that everyone must everyone sits down at a table and signs the documents which definitively lift this option. Something that has not been done today. So yes, things are looking good, and it is the clearly stated desire of both KTM Factory AND Miguel Oliveira AND the entire Tech3 team that this happens. But today, we absolutely cannot confirm! We will do this via an official press release which will come out from Red Bull KTM Tech3 as quickly as possible as soon as this is done. And I hope it will be done for the French Grand Prix.”
As we can see, nothing is official yet, but the 2020 transfer market is already underway, with in particular a highly contested place up for grabs at Mission Winnow Ducati, but also, and this is not exhaustive, the second KTM RC16 at Tech3…
