KTM’s successful bid to recruit Johann Zarco to the factory team was not because they had shown him anything new for next season.According to Motorsports Director Pit Beirer, it was “more the spirit and feeling in the team” that had convinced him. “We also showed him the space in the factory and the strength of the effort for the MotoGP project,” he said.

Zarco spoke yesterday of his interest in the challenge: he has the chance to become the first European rider on a European machine to take the World Championship since Phil Read on the MV Agusta in 1974.

Now Beirer was hosting a conference explaining the Austrian factory’s side.

Along with Zarco and his team-mate Pol Espargaro, both signed for the next two years, KTM was also adding the Tech 3 team to strength, with the promise of full factory support.

“It is not as a classic satellite team, but part of the factory project,” he said. For example, rider choice would be arrived at together.

He confirmed that KTM would be gaining a lot of MotoGP experience and “very strong knowledge” with the French team, which has run satellite MotoGP Yamahas for the past 19 years.

As head of all KTM motorsport, including off-road, his policy was to recruit the best people. “I try not to be the smartest guy at the table,” he said.

By Michael Scott