KTM has announced its plan to enter the MotoGP championship in the premier class in 2017. This news was confirmed by the top boss of KTM, Stefan Pierer, making it the latest entrant after Suzuki and Aprilia who announced their participation in this esteemed event a few weeks ago.
The Austrian manufacturer will enter the MotoGP with the new R16 motorcycle that will feature a 1000cc V4 engine. The motorcycle is under development with the engine testing beginning from May 2015. The motorcycle will go on sale in the autumn of 2015, with the race-spec bike continuing to be developed all through 2016, with the possibility of a few wildcard entries in 2016 as well. The company will soon start searching for test riders for the 2016 season and it also said that it won’t enter as a factory team but will sell motorcycles to the interested teams.
KTM is planning to sell around 100 race copy bikes a year priced between 1,50,000 to 2,00,000 euros. KTM believes that there are few enthusiasts who would like to experience this new V4 motorcycle, but the power figures might not be same as the race spec one. The Austrian manufacturer believes any motorcycle above 200bhp doesn’t belong to the public roads but on the race track.
Source: Speedweek
