Tech3 KTM team boss Herve Poncharal says fielding Maverick Vinales and Enea Bastianini will see him have «two number ones» for the 2025 MotoGP season.
As first reported by Motorsport.com last week, KTM announced it had signed Bastianini from Ducati and Vinales from Aprilia to join the Tech3 satellite squad next year.
This comes as Bastianini will be replaced by Marc Marquez at the factory Ducati team next year, while Vinales’ signing with KTM follows Aprilia’s big-money grab of current championship leader Jorge Martin.
Tech3 is enjoying a strong year as KTM’s GasGas-branded satellite structure courtesy of star rookie Pedro Acosta’s four podiums so far after seven rounds. The 20-year-old will replace Jack Miller at the factory KTM team next season.
But team-mate Augusto Fernandez has scored just 13 points to Acosta’s 101, while KTM will realign its MotoGP strategy to field four KTM-branded factory bikes in 2025.
As far as Poncharal, who has fielded a number of strong riders over the years, Bastianini and Vinales – who between them have 15 grand prix victories – represent the most rounded line-up he has had.
«2024 is already shaping up to be a dream for Tech3,» Poncharal told Speedweek.
Maverick Vinales, Aprilia Racing
Photo by: MotoGP
«Thanks to Pedro, we have been able to show our strength and accelerate the entire project together, around the RC16.
«We have reached a new stage. There will be a bit of melancholy for not having Pedro in our garage anymore, but we will have a team that never we have had in our history.
«We have always had very good riders, and I still have great respect for each and every one of them.
«But we have never seen this association of two leading riders, winners in MotoGP, with us. We will have two number ones in 2025.»
Poncharal went on to add that he believes both Bastianini and Vinales can win races on the RC16.
Vinales holds the distinction of being the only rider in the modern MotoGP era to have won grands prix on three different motorcycles (Suzuki, Yamaha, Aprilia).