MotoGP

[p6x]

As the KTM situation appears to be more complicated, with the debt ceiling evaluated at 2.1 billions rather than the initially announced 1.8 billions, Dorna is said to be working on a plan B, in case KTM had to exit MotoGP ahead of the season, or during the season.

This information comes from Motosprint.it;

Dorna's intention is to salvage the four KTM pilots. The plan would be to incorporate them to the other teams.

There is not much information about the how.

What we can anticipate, is that Ducati would maybe be able to supply two additional GP24, one for Gresini, another for VR46.

Yamaha and Honda may also be able to add one bike to Pramac and one to LCR.

This is all speculation at this point, but it makes sense for Dorna to be working on a backup.

More worrisome would be the future of the Tech3 team. The team manager, Hervé Poncharal, gave an interview before the debt ceiling was raised. He said that Tech3 had no possible alternative but to go along with KTM.

Unless Ducati would provide the two unused GP24 to Tech3.

We will know soon enough, since the shakedown will start on January 31st until February 2nd. The shakedown is only for test pilots and rookies, excepted for Honda and Yamaha because of their specific concessions.

We can expect the bikes have shipped already to Sepang, so we would have already heard if KTM had skipped.

[LowRyter]

The best deal for KTM is some benefactor -cough- Red Bull, could lease all the bikes and property for $1 and run the team for the season.  

[Bingbong]

Another rumour is Pedro Acosta to VR 46 on a Ducati. 
KTM will become Bataj not sure the race team will survive that. 

[p6x]

On 1/28/2025 at 8:55 PM, LowRyter said:

The best deal for KTM is some benefactor -cough- Red Bull, could lease all the bikes and property for $1 and run the team for the season.  

There were talks about that, but somewhat, KTM did not take the deal, that was before.

From what I read this morning, KTM is all set to start the testing. Presentation of the motorcycles included.

We will know more on February 25th, when the temporary admin gives a briefing. Until then, everything continues, or seems to be.

[p6x]

5 hours ago, Bingbong said:

Another rumour is Pedro Acosta to VR 46 on a Ducati. 
KTM will become Bataj not sure the race team will survive that. 

The Italian media reported that Pedro Acosta participated to the races at the VR46 ranch, and that Valentino Rossi and Pedro had a meeting.

Lots of speculation obviously.

Lots of KTM employees have lost their jobs, many of them did not get paid.

Having been in management at some point in my career, I am really surprised that all that KTM turmoil seemed to have happened all of a sudden. I was running my own base as if it was an isolated company, and each month, I would get all the analytics, and my managers would comb through all the numbers. Anything not in the green, and I would have to take cost cutting measures, sometimes those would even be taken for me.

You don't get 2.1 Billions in the red overnight.

[LowRyter]

4 hours ago, p6x said:

The Italian media reported that Pedro Acosta participated to the races at the VR46 ranch, and that Valentino Rossi and Pedro had a meeting.

Lots of speculation obviously.

Lots of KTM employees have lost their jobs, many of them did not get paid.

Having been in management at some point in my career, I am really surprised that all that KTM turmoil seemed to have happened all of a sudden. I was running my own base as if it was an isolated company, and each month, I would get all the analytics, and my managers would comb through all the numbers. Anything not in the green, and I would have to take cost cutting measures, sometimes those would even be taken for me.

You don't get 2.1 Billions in the red overnight.

From what I read, the CEO knew they were over producing but kept going.  It was one of those "why did he do it?" critiques.  

[gstallons]

That is why they are CEOs 

[GuzziMoto]

Credit to Stefan Pierer, unlike most CEO's today he lives and breathes his company. Clearly he messed up, over-extending the companies resources. But unlike many CEO's, where it is just a numbers job, he actually cares about KTM. He has ridden them.

I am pretty sure one way or another KTM will be on the grid when the season starts.

Edited because I mis-spelled his name. My bad.

Edited January 31 by GuzziMoto

[Pressureangle]

It's not impossible that KTM has the same monkey on their back that other companies in the U.S. endure- or die from- Bane Capital in the U.S. stacks the board of directors with insiders who 'make poor decisions' while the big player shorts the stock and bleeds the company dry. Of course, nobody wants to put their head on the block by calling spades spades.

[p6x]

On 1/31/2025 at 11:40 AM, Pressureangle said:

It's not impossible that KTM has the same monkey on their back that other companies in the U.S. endure- or die from- Bane Capital in the U.S. stacks the board of directors with insiders who 'make poor decisions' while the big player shorts the stock and bleeds the company dry. Of course, nobody wants to put their head on the block by calling spades spades.

This is the sad truth, that financial investors takes control and only manage companies to make as much money as possible, not caring for any other aspects.

It seems that one of the major KTM US creditor, Whitebox Advisor LLC, is not happy with the restructuration plan since KTM is trying to limit those investment funds from having too much control in the future company's management.

We will have the answer on February 25th, when the plan will be revealed by the administrator.

[p6x]

Its officicial now; all the 2025 and 2026 Ducati bikes will use the 2024 engine.

The 2025 version of the engine has been discarded by both Bagnaia and Marquez.

I think it is interesting because all the Ducati bikes will have the exact same engine for the next two seasons. This also means that the GP25 chassis will most likely remain the 2024 with some probable evolutions.

According to Tardozzi, the challenge is to manufacture the necessary 2024 spec'ed engines in time for homologation, for the three Ducati that were initially going to use the 2025 version.

So in theory, the six Ducati of 2025 and 2026 are going to have the same engine.

[GuzziMoto]

As to MotoGP news, very interesting developments with Ducati. It seems they will not homologate their new 2025 engine and instead they will homologate the 2024 engine for the 2025 and 2026 seasons. Also, they seem to prefer the 2024 chassis, although that is not something they will be locked into for the next two years. Once they get the new chassis to where it is faster than the 2024 they would be free to switch as long as the 2024 engine fits in it.

p6x, you beat me to it....

[p6x]

21 hours ago, GuzziMoto said:

p6x, you beat me to it....

There is no competition on who reported it first; I have a feeling that MotoGP is not really followed a lot here. Only a few of us are keeping tabs.

Going back to the GP24 chassis, it seems indeed that the 2025 season will start with a GP25 with the same chassis, engine and aerodynamics as the GP24.

In any case, owing to Marquez' sprint race simulation, Ducati remains the reference in the field, even with their 2024 bike. The others teams have still not caught up with them.

The only question that everybody has, who between Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez will win the 2025 World MotoGP championship?

Personally, I don't even think there is a question; Marc Marquez will win.

[GuzziMoto]

51 minutes ago, p6x said:

There is no competition on who reported it first; I have a feeling that MotoGP is not really followed a lot here. Only a few of us are keeping tabs.

Going back to the GP24 chassis, it seems indeed that the 2025 season will start with a GP25 with the same chassis, engine and aerodynamics as the GP24.

In any case, owing to Marquez' sprint race simulation, Ducati remains the reference in the field, even with their 2024 bike. The others teams have still not caught up with them.

The only question that everybody has, who between Francesco Bagnaia and Marc Marquez will win the 2025 World MotoGP championship?

Personally, I don't even think there is a question; Marc Marquez will win.

Could be, Marc Marquez could win the title. Or not. He might be a favorite with some people, but he is clearly not a sure thing. I am not even sure the champion will be riding a Ducati. Bez on the Ape was really quick, and he isn't even the fastest guy riding an Aprilia this year. It will be interesting to see what Martin can get out of it. And KTM is right there. However it goes, it appears that Ducati has lost most of the advantage they had last year,  Ducati literally has pretty much what they had last year while the other manufacturers have made progress. Even Yamaha and Honda are right there. Honda still needs to sort some power and traction issues, they need more power but don't have enough traction for the power they have now. But on tracks with good traction they are right there even without the extra power  they need. So things are certainly even closer then they were last year. I don't know about your statement that the others have not caught up. Test times indicate they have. But testing doesn't pay points. We will see soon enough who has what. It should be fun to watch.

[PJPR01]

This certainly levels the field considerably...now it will come down to fitness, injuries, crashing, recovering and how many race incidents or starting position penalties.  Could make for a more interesting season more based on skill, rather than technological differences.

Edited Friday at 05:13 PM by PJPR01