What Maverick Vinales and Enea Bastianini were ‘very clearly’ told by KTM ahead of Malaysia shakedown

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KTM have bolstered their rider line-up for the 2025 MotoGP season with the signings of Maverick Vinales and Enea Bastianini.

The duo join KTM’s satellite squad Tech3 for 2025 from Aprilia and Ducati’s factory teams respectively. They won three races and grabbed 10 podiums between them.

Bastianini scored nine of those podiums as Francesco Bagnaia’s teammate at Ducati. The Italian finished fourth in the standings with wins at Silverstone and Misano.

Vinales was the only non-Ducati rider to win a race in 2024 with a victory in Austin. It was also his only podium of the season as he would go on to finish in the top five two more times all season.

The pair creates a solid rider pairing for Tech3 this season, with KTM CEO Pit Beirer taking a swipe at Ducati and Aprilia as he strengthened his pool of riders for 2025.

Maverick Vinales and Enea Bastianini will have ‘total parity’ with Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder at Sepang shakedown

Vinales and Bastianini join Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder at KTM this season. Acosta has moved up from tech3 to the factory outfit after an incredible rookie campaign last year.

Acosta’s performances may have tempted Vinales to join KTM as he wants to prove he can deliver on the RC16 if his fellow Spaniard could score five podiums on it.

All four KTM riders have signed factory contracts that run until 2026. This will see all of them ride equal machinery in 2025.

This message was made ‘very clearly’ to Vinales and Bastianini ahead of the MotoGP shakedown session in Malaysia this weekend. Tech3 team owner Herve Poncharal says that despite being with the satellite team, the duo will have ‘total parity’ with Acosta and Binder.

Poncharal told GPOne: “When the bikes were assembled in Munderfing two weeks ago, all eight KTM RC16s were built to the same specification. In Sepang, all four riders will start with a total parity. This is very important for the morale of the riders. We sent this message very clearly to Maverick and Enea”.

MotoGP fans are fuming after seeing KTM and Tech3’s liveries for the 2025 season

KTM will be looking to build upon their 2024 season with their exciting rider line-up. The Austrian manufacturer finished second in the constructors’ championship ahead of Aprilia by 25 points.

A key reason for this was the performances of Acosta with Tech3 last season. Poncharal says Acosta was an ‘alien’ in 2024 as the 20-year-old earns his move to the factory team.

KTM and Tech3 unveiled their 2025 bikes on Thursday, with all four RC16s sporting the orange colour of the company and Red Bull’s colours as their main sponsor.

Beirer wanted to move the Tech3 team more towards the factory operations, hence why they are no longer sporting the red colours of GASGAS.

But MotoGP fans were fuming at KTM’s liveries as they pointed out the bikes were very similar and that it could be difficult to recognise the riders.