In a matter of a few weeks, Brad Binder will be able to answer the question that many race fans regularly have: what does it feel like to pin a MotoGP™ factory bike?! The South African chats about three ways in which he’ll get set for the challenge…
In the immediate hive of Sunday’s activity after a European MotoGP™ it can be easy to find Pol Espargaró sitting in the Red Bull Holzhaus Energy Station eating a bikini. The 28-year-old is not chewing on beach clothing but a toasted ham and cheese sandwich (so called in Catalonia). It’s almost a ritual. A small ‘reward’ for the sandwich-crazy lead rider of the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team that is deep into its third term at the pinnacle of motorcycle racing.
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing is a team punching its weight in the ‘prize’ division of MotoGP™. It is a collective of almost fifty full-time people of different ages, nationalities, cultures and genders. The grand prix paddock is a strange environment: a mini society of diverse backgrounds, educations, beliefs. Most of all it is a home of expertise, knowledge and enthusiasm for sport, bikes and competition.
The irony of course is that the 24-year-old is far from a ‘rookie’. Miguel Oliveira is the first athlete to have progressed through Red Bull KTM’s newly established Grand Prix ladder: having represented the factory in Moto3 (6 wins) and Moto2 (6 victories and 21 podiums). The fresh link with the Tech3 MotoGP squad for 2019 opened up the perfect ‘learning’ opportunity for Portugal’s sole racer in the category, and he impressed with his hard work, intelligence, application and speed in the first rounds that his tenure with KTM was impressive enough and quickly confirmed again for 2020.
Three seasons into life as a protagonist of the AMA 450 Supercross/Motocross scene and Cooper Webb has inked his entry in the record books. The 2019 SX campaign – the 23 year old’s first as a Red Bull KTM factory rider – has been nothing short of superlative as the former 250 SX/MX Champion (and with experience of only one other brand as a professional) has swept and surprised his rivals with 7 victories and 13 podium finishes.
2019 Dakar Rally Winner and 2018 FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Champion! The last three months have seen Toby Price reaffirm himself as the world’s number one rally racer. And in unquestionably impressive style. Battling his way through the world’s toughest cross-country rally with a broken wrist, with the full support of the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Price earned his second Dakar victory having overcome injury and 10 brutal days of racing in Peru.
2016 Dakar Rally winner Toby Price is no stranger to hardship. Before his rally career had even begun the Australian suffered three broken vertebrae during a Hare and Hounds crash in America. Then, when defending his Dakar title in 2017, another fall resulted in a badly broken leg that resulted in his immediate retirement from the event. But through a positive mental, dogged determination and a never give up attitude, Price fought back to claim a hard-fought Dakar podium finish in early 2018. Price then went on to win the FIM Cross-Country Rallies World Championship making him a firm favorite for Dakar 2019. However, once again the KTM ace is experiencing the rollercoaster ride of the sport, as he faces a race back to fitness to make it to the start of the Dakar in January, after sustaining a wrist injury this week.
Red Bull KTM’s exciting new AMA Supercross and Motocross recruit checks in for the first time …
One week after his 24th birthday Jeffrey Herlings blew out the candle on an utterly dominant MXGP season so we collected a few exclusive words with the world’s fastest dirtbike racer.
There are plenty of just a bit too serious interviews on our MotoGP heroes, so instead we thought we’d keep it nice and casual. We met up with Pol Espargaró and Bradley Smith in the Red Bull Hospitality to do a little quiz. The KTM duo had to guess each other’s favorites, and for every right answer they scored a point. Let’s see who came out on top!
