We got to catch up with KTM’s Motorsports director, Pit Beirer, at Lommel as the former GP winner, gave us 30 minutes of his time to talk about a range of topics, including the restructuring at KTM, with Pit being very honest about the situation the company was in, including the racing side.
KTM in general, had a very difficult 12 months, I guess. Were you worried this would affect the teams? Obviously, Supercross in America, MXGP and MotoGP. Was there any risk those teams would go away or significantly shrink?
“I mean, the company was in danger. So if the company is in danger, you don’t need racing at the end if this goes wrong. So for sure, there was risk and there was a lot of pressure for us in the factory. But in the whole company, we had to put the racing emotion on the side for a couple of days back in November and say, what can we do to save this company? To save this fantastic company, which gives work to thousands of people and gave us also this platform for racing. I’m working at the race department since 2003 and we were just building and building and building, one class to the next, going to US Supercross in 2012, taking it really serious together with Roger. And so many things have been done.
And then you saw everything in danger November, December, last year. That was really a tough moment to go through. For me, the toughest ever, like to get this experience that we need to secure our baby. And at the end of the day, it happened. Our CEO, Mr. Neumister and the team, they gave everything to save the company. Our main shareholder, Bajaj, in India, he was really the man at the end to give all the safety we needed just to restart. So it was a very bumpy road, but the great news is KTM survived.
“And so the last promise we had to bring in was we will start production again on 28th of July. That happened last week. I was there very much to see that the first bike came off the production line again. So this restructuring process is over. The company is up and running. And the missing part was, of course, production, because if you go racing and you save the company, you stabilize it with the owners and everything. But still, there is no new income from new and fresh bikes, the biggest part is missing from the factory. We are there to produce motorcycles. So this was really emotional and really nice to see that the last check was done. We are back in production And now it’s not that all our problems are fixed, so the really hard work starts now to repair the damage and make KTM super successful again, like we have been more than 30 years. And that part was done.
“But then I have to thank all the race teams all around the world, because I asked them their trust. I said, we’re going to fix it. Stay there, work hard, let’s go and win races. Because the only positive news about KTM was actually racing results in January. We wanted the Dakar. We went on to win Supercross races, we won a 250 supercross title, MXGP, winning GPs. So it was such a consistent, positive vibe out of the race department. I hope this could give a signal to the rest of the company and also all our customers around the globe, that KTM is still there. But I’m really proud on the race team globally what they did in this period, because also nobody had a really safe future. They just gave trust in a couple of guys in KTM, where we said, let’s go, guys, we’re going to fix this. We’re going to repair this and we’re going to be there in the future. And I’m impressed, our team stayed together, the people stayed on board. They gave it everything.
“We are leading most of these important championships for us. So it was a big journey, but it brought us as a KTM family closer together than ever. And now I’m really looking forward into the future, because now we are ready to go again full gas.”
Have budgets been affected for signing riders going in the next year, or has that not really been affected?
“We went already last year in summer when we saw the market is difficult and stuff. We got already kind of a warning. Hey, guys, take care with your money and use it efficient for what you need, but try to get away the extras. So what happened globally, we reduced the number of riders already from last year going into this year, trying to keep the champions, trying to keep the contenders who can win a championship, try to keep the potentially young ones. But the moment that we had like three brands and then you need a factory rider also for three brands in two classes, sometimes you make a compromise and the guy can get eighth or tenth in the best case. So that’s the riders we said, okay, we cannot have any more.
“So it’s really champion potential or the great future guys. So we made this kind of reduction already. We downsized the global operation, but always got the budget and the money to continue to develop the bikes, have the best bikes and the best riders. So I feel we are slimmer, but we had to do it under pressure, I have to admit. But I think it makes us even better and stronger because we sometimes did things which was already too much. So I feel we are more focused, and so now I have a great budget and we still can get the riders we want.”
Watch the full interview below:
