Red Bull KTM MotoGP Factory Racing confirm 2018 rider line-up

Posted on Oct 11, 2017 by Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

KTM are about to complete their first year competing in MotoGP but the team are already looking forward to next year with knowledge and data gained from races in 2017. Further to the team’s announcement before the season, KTM clarifies their rider line up for 2018 with Pol Espargaro and Bradley Smith following top ten finishes for the pair of them during this opening season with the KTM RC16 motorcycle. The team remains committed to both riders who have remained steadfast and unwavering in their commitment to furthering the biggest motorsport programme KTM has ever undertaken since the company started in 1953.

Pol Espargaro has been resolute and relentless in his drive to take the KTM MotoGP project forward to further success during one of the closest seasons in MotoGP history. Espargaro has taken the best result for KTM so far – ninth at Brno – and has taken some qualifying positions much higher than the team though of before the first wheels were turned at the start of the year. To have the former Moto2 World Champion on board for the second season is fantastic for the Austrian squad.

KTM have supported Bradley Smith from the very first test on the KTM RC16 MotoGP bike in Valencia 2016. He has fitted into the team well and has worked hard at every test, practice and race as a new motorcycle is developed with new parts coming into the garage for every race. The team want to confirm that 2018 will remain as committed to Smith as before as we both look forward to bettering results and lap times. He is a Grand Prix winner and a podium man over the three classes of Grand Prix racing he’s contested, something that KTM wish to repeat with an orange motorcycle underneath him.

Mika Kallio will remain as the team’s test rider for 2018 with selected wildcard rides for the Finn. He has been a huge part of the progress of the MotoGP project through his vast experience in Grand Prix that go back 17 years, knowledge that has been a major factor in the project exceeding the initial expectations for 2017. KTM look forward to Kallio’s ongoing speed and support so the motorcycle can jump forward to the next step in 2018 and beyond. His three races so far this year have been some of the most impressive for a wildcard in recent times with his commitment and speed, something that KTM look forward to seeing again at the season final in Valencia in a month’s time.