Pol Espargaro has just two letters for KTM after riding 2025 bike at MotoGP Shakedown

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KTM will be relieved to be back on track at the MotoGP Shakedown in Sepang. It’s been a tumultuous winter for the Austrian squad amid the company’s financial crisis.

Under the concessions rules, only Yamaha and Honda – who occupied the bottom two places in last year’s constructors championship – are able to field their full-time, senior riders. KTM are in category C along with Aprilia, and Ducati are naturally in the top band.

KTM will only be able to visit up to three circuits for private testing in 2025. They have been supplied with 220 sets of tyres.

Pol Espargaro is on the saddle in Malaysia, along with Dani Pedrosa. Their experience will be invaluable as the engineers look to determine a development direction for the bike.

Between them, they boast just under 400 starts in the premier class (389). Espargaro made three wildcard appearances during the 2024 season.

He appeared in Mugello, Spielberg and Misano, with a best result of P10 in his final outing. The Spaniard retired from full-time racing at the end of 2023.

Pol Espargaro exhausted after first day of MotoGP shakedown for KTM

Espargaro topped the times on the first day of running, setting a 1:59.561. That put him around a tenth and half clear of Trackhouse debutant Ai Ogura, with Pedrosa fourth on the other RC16.

Conditions at Sepang are notoriously brutal, with temperatures ticking above 30 degrees and humidity levels high. Riders will run extensive programmes in testing to gather as much data as possible.

Posting on his Instagram story after the session, Espargaro wrote ‘K.O’, the initialism for ‘knocked out’. In the accompanying photo, he looked visibly exhausted.

This is an indication of what full-time riders like Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder can expect when they arrive at the circuit for the first official test on 5 February.

Former KTM boss has already made worrying prediction for 2025 MotoGP season

On the final day of last year’s pre-season test in Malaysia, Brad Binder set a 1:57.3. The lap times of Espargaro and Pedrosa are still a long way from that benchmark, which suggests they’re not pushing flat-out yet.

KTM may be more focused on performance runs when Acosta and Binder are on track. The sophomore rider is expected to take yet another step forward this year after a formidable debut.

Binder can’t believe how good Acosta is on the brakes, and knows it will be extremely difficult to remain the lead rider on the RC16. Maverick Vinales and Enea Bastianini form a mighty Tech3 line-up too.

In a worrying statement for the quartet, former boss Francesco Guidotti says ‘performance isn’t the priority’ for KTM in 2025. As the company faces billions in debt, they’re simply focused on survival.