Coming off the back of three days of successful testing at Red Bull Ring in Spielberg in November 2015, KTM has announced that its MotoGP machine, the RC16, will debut at the Grand Prix of Austria on August 12. From its fledgling Moto3 (250 cc, single cylinder) effort three years ago, and some rumbling about lack of return on investment, KTM appears to have found a second wind for 2016.
KTM chief operating officer Stefan Pierer expressed confidence in the RC16 prototype, and said development was going according to plan. He added that the project was financially healthy, which could mean an aggressive effort from KTM for the 2017 season if results roll in.
While the 1,000 cc, 90-degree V4 engined RC16 is intended to compete in the 2017 MotoGP season, KTM has requested a wild-card entry from FIM for the final round of the 2016 MotoGP in Valencia.
Pit Beirer, KTM’s motorsport director, said the test at Spielberg “was a very emotional moment.” Despite making known its plans for competing in MotoGP only a couple of years ago, KTM has shown considerable effort and progress in the project.
There has been no announcement as to who will be riding the RC16 in 2017. Current test riders in the KTM MotoGP team are former MotoGP racer Alex Hoffman and Mika Kallio from Finland. It is rumoured that KTM will produce a customer track-only version of the RC16 in 2017 at a price of 140,000 euros (RM656,000).
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