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Red Bull says it hopes its sponsorship of the Tech3 KTM MotoGP team will allow it to emulate its programme of bringing juniors into Formula 1 with Toro Rosso.
Tech3 has picked up the energy drinks company as a title sponsor as part of its transition from Yamaha to KTM machinery, and on Tuesday revealed a new livery for 2019 incorporating the same blue-and-silver colour scheme used in F1 by Toro Rosso.
The team has also recruited Moto2 runner-up Miguel Oliveira to partner Hafizh Syahrin for its first campaign with KTM after Johann Zarco joined Pol Espargaro at the factory squad.
The new alliance also extends to Moto2, with Tech3 switching from its own Mistral bikes to KTM machinery for 2019 riders Marco Bezzecchi and Philipp Oettl.
Red Bull motorsports manager Thomas Uberall said he hopes riders will graduate to KTM from Tech3 in the same way F1 drivers like Sebastian Vettel, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen have progressed from Toro Rosso to the main Red Bull team.
“I’m very happy to be there with two MotoGP teams,” said Uberall.
“I have one which is fighting for podiums, I can say this because we did this already last year [at Valencia].
“And we have a second team where we can bring up the riders coming from very low [down the ladder], from [Red Bull] Rookies Cup, Moto3 and Moto2.
“They can have their first steps in MotoGP with less pressure than the factory team. This is really what we want to do.
“We proved [the model] already on four wheels, and now we [want to] do something almost exactly the same in MotoGP.
“This is hopefully what guarantees us success in the future, and the first world champion on the road in the top class in MotoGP very soon.”
KTM CEO Stefan Pierer has set his riders the goal of finishing inside the top 10 in the team’s third season after a difficult second campaign in the premier class.
KTM’s lead rider in 2018 was Espargaro, who finished 14th overall despite missing four races due to injury, while Bradley Smith, who has moved on to an Aprilia test role for 2019, was a further four places back.
Espargaro’s Valencia podium did however ensure KTM beat Aprilia to fifth in the manufacturers’ standings for a second year in a row.
“It’s a five-year programme, and at the end we want to see podiums,” said Pierer.
“For the upcoming season, I want to see single-digit ranks. I think that’s realistic.
“Still we are beginners, we are collecting data, we’re missing all the experience of our competitors.”