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KTM Works Hard on the MotoGP Bike, Will Aspar or Forward Racing Court Them?

It looks like the MotoGP grid will become more crowded, if not starting with the next season, certainly from 2016. Aprilia has joined hands with Gresini and will field two factory bikes next year, with one of the riders being confirmed to be Alvaro Bautista. Suzuki is also making big efforts to prepare the most competitive bike they can for the 2015 comeback, while KTM has plans to make it back to the grid in 2017.
KTM RC8 will not be the inspiration for the KTM MotoGP bikes 1 photo
Photo: KTM
It may sound like a long time, but when it comes to coming up with a bike which can compete with the rest of the field, things are definitely not easy. And when the team is factory one, things are even harder, as expectations are much higher.

The big question is whether KTM will re-enter MotoGP all by themselves, like Ducati, Yamaha, Honda and Suzuki do, or they will opt for Aprilia’s recipe? Going “solo” has its advantages, with the “complete, absolute and definitive” control over every last detail which can make the bikes more competitive being one of the most important.

On the other hand, racing outfits such as Aspar or Forward Racing would also represent choices worth considering for a factory. They already have their places on the grid and thins already saves a lot of money. While KTM was no longer a part of the “premier class club”, they have continuously earned track and pit box experience and this can be a solid advantage for a team which wants to do battle with the top bikes.

Eskil Suter, the CEO of Suter, a GP chassis supplier says that he believes that KTM will build everything in-house, according to speedweek. We already know that KTM plans to use their own WP suspensions instead of Showa or Ohlins, and developing them might not come in cheap. Brakes will most likely come from Brembo, while the ECU will be supplied by Magneti Marelli anyway, with the software being a common effort from all teams, and thus cutting some costs, too.

KTM’s Kurt Trieb is said to have already started to work on the new engine, and we can safely assume that KTM will field a seamless gearbox and pneumatic valves, two things which are slowly and steadily becoming standard equipment in MotoGP.

So far, there’s a haze shrouding Matighoffen, but we just know that it will start to fade away soon. Some wildcard appearances are rumored in 2016, so there will be plenty to spy on next year already.
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