PICS: Pol Espargaro debuts radical KTM swingarm wings

After a poor run of recent events, KTM has brought a range of upgrades for wild-card Pol Espargaro at the factory’s home Austrian MotoGP.

The most visible are some radical swingarm-mounted wings, which appeared on the side of Espargaro’s RC16 during Friday morning’s opening practice at the Red Bull Ring.

Should the swingarm wings prove a success, they could be used by the KTM race riders this season since they are mounted outside of the homologation  'Aero Body' areas.

The Spaniard also has a new exhaust and, it is rumoured, a revised engine specification.

While full-time KTM race riders aren't able to change engine design during the season, wild-cards (Espargaro or Dani Pedrosa) can race with different engines due to the factory’s ‘C’ concession ranking.

The same applies to Aprilia, which has a wild-card entry for Lorenzo Savadori this weekend. Only Honda and Yamaha, currently on a 'D' concession ranking, are free to change engine design for their race riders.

The new KTM parts made a positive first impression.

Espargaro, who has recently tested at the Red Bull Ring track, fastest during the early stages of FP1 and ultimately only outpaced by the Pramac Ducatis of title leader Jorge Martin and team-mate Franco Morbidelli.