'Great memories' - Tech3 KTM ready to restart in Austria

Tech3 KTM returns to the scene of its debut MotoGP victory as the summer break ends with the first of two back-to-back rounds at the Red Bull Ring in Austria this weekend.

After 20-years of trying, Miguel Oliveira finally gave Tech3 a premier-class victory after a dramatic last corner showdown with Pol Espargaro and Jack Miller in the second of last year's restarted Red Bull Ring races.

The Portuguese went on to hand Tech3 a second victory in the Portimao season finale before moving to the Factory KTM team for 2021, his place at Tech3 going to Ducati race winner Danilo Petrucci.

But the revised line-up of Petrucci and the continuing Iker Lecuona have yet to threaten such heroics this season, the Italian getting closest with fifth in the wet at Le Mans, and both look to have lost their seats to Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez for 2022.

Fernandez is still to be officially confirmed, something that could happen in front of KTM's home fans (Red Bull Ring is set to witness the biggest crowds since the Covid pandemic) over the coming weekends.

Either way, Austria will be a special weekend for Tech3.

"Everybody knows it’s the home grand prix for our manufacturer, therefore this meeting is very important for us," said team manager Herve Poncharal calls

“Obviously, we have great memories from last year when we got our first ever MotoGP victory with Miguel Oliveira, which we won’t forget.

"We know the KTM RC16 is working very well at the Austrian venue, so we are targeting top 10 results with Danilo and Iker this year. I’m sure they will be fired up to show their true potential after this long break."

Petrucci, who has struggled for top speed this season, said: "There are some straights, where we definitely have some work to do, but I had a good month of recovery and I want to start the second part of the season in a proper way in order to be clearly better than in this first half of 2021.”

Lecuona, who has scored half of Petrucci's 26 points this season, added: “I like the Red Bull Ring a lot, because last year I ended up two times inside the top 10 at this circuit. I know the KTM works very well there and it’s one of my favourite tracks. So, I expect, that I can keep up with the front and fight for a top 10 result again.”