Honda engineers are privately ‘discussing’ one MotoGP situation that heavily impacted KTM this year

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Honda have emerged as one of the most improved teams during the 2025 MotoGP campaign, and engineers at the Japanese constructor are looking forward to reaping the rewards of their efforts.

As the most successful team in the history of the premier class, Honda’s fall from the top of the pecking order since the start of the new decade saw them become a regular backmarker on the grid.

A Honda bike has won just five races in MotoGP since the start of the 2020 season, a stark contrast to the five races that Marc Marquez won in the final six races of the season prior.

However, things have been looking relatively promising at recent race weekends, with Joan Mir taking two podiums atop the RC213V in the last four Grands Prix.

READ MORE: Jorge Lorenzo shares where Honda’s MotoGP team would be without Marc Marquez’s 2020 injury

Honda engineers are ‘looking forward’ to moving up concessions categories after massive improvements in 2025

The boost in results for the Asaka-based constructor has meant that they are now on the cusp of moving up a rank in the MotoGP concessions system.

Speaking on an episode of the Paddock Pass podcast, journalist David Emmett detailed what the current sentiment at Honda is over the change in benefits that the outfit will receive.

He said: “Honda are doing so well that they now need just 19 points to move up from category D to category C in concessions, which would mean that next year they would not have free engines. They’d have fewer tests, and more importantly, they wouldn’t be able to test with their riders.

“Now someone from inside Honda was saying that some of the mechanics had been discussing this and they were really looking forward, really hoping that Honda would make it out of category D because it means they would be they would have so many fewer private tests to go to.

“It would be left to the test team, but that in itself is both an achievement and a sign that the system is really, really working well.”

The achievement is somewhat of a double-edged sword, as presenter Adam Wheeler highlighted the effect that the change in concessions rank had on KTM at the end of the 2024 season.

Wheeler said: “That kind of curtailing of concessions maybe affected KTM a little bit because they were making superb progress in the premier class, and then they reached that performance level, and then it kind of changed a little bit. So, it’s not insignificant, and it’s a great point to make as well.”

READ MORE: Honda are ready to ‘triple’ one MotoGP rider’s salary to make him the new ‘face’ of the team

KTM have struggled this season after making good progress in the 2024 MotoGP campaign

When looking at the positions of KTM’s riders in the MotoGP standings, Pedro Acosta could fool you in regards to the performance of their RC16 bike that has carried him to multiple podiums in 2025.

However, the bike has been notoriously difficult to record consistent results as shown through the performances of the rest of the KTM stable during the current campaign.

Acosta made an ‘old school’ request to engineers at the Malaysian Grand Prix, which saw them remove the vast number of devices that riders have at their disposal on a MotoGP bike.

The trick seemed to have worked, with the Murcian rider taking the chequered flag in second place at the end of the Grand Prix as he recorded his best points haul from a single weekend.

However, on the other side of the garage, Brad Binder’s woes have been magnified due to the impressive pace of his younger teammate.

Neil Hodgson thinks Binder has ‘lost his way’ compared to his previous seasons with the Austrian constructor, but the regression in results can also be attributed to the limited amount of test time that the South African has received as a consequence of the move up in concessions rank.