Scott Ogden details “incomparable” difference between Honda, KTM Moto3 bikes

Scott Ogden’s move from the MLav Racing team to the CIP Green Power squad in the Moto3 World Championship also means a change of machinery for the British rider.

Ogden has spent his whole Moto3 career so far with the MLav team, run by former MotoGP rider and current TNT Sports pundit Michael Laverty, and on their Honda NSF250R machine, but in moving to the French CIP outfit he gets his first taste of the KTM RC4 GP, the CFMoto-badged version of which David Alonso rode to the 2024 Moto3 world title.

In his first test on the KTM at Jerez earlier in November, Ogden was able to immediately feel the difference between the two machines.

“The two Moto 3 bikes are incomparable,” Ogden wrote in an X post.

“They are different in so many ways but not worse or better.”

He added: “My initial opinion was ‘Wow the ktm is so fast’. Especially in Jerez where we have a lot of slow corners with hard acceleration zones, and that was with an engine [that was] completely finished on its miles.

“The most difficult part for me was the shifting of gears. In the Honda you had to be super slow [when downshifting] to manage the revs.

“Whereas with the KTM it’s the opposite. You have to be super fast and try [to] get the revs high for the engine brake to work.

“The other key point is the aero on the KTM: it’s a lot smaller than the Honda. So, to stay tucked is much more important for keeping the speed.”