FIRST LOOK: Tech3 KTM MotoGP livery, 'With Remy and Raul, we have to dream high'

Tech3 KTM keeps its bright orange 'Ready-to-Race' livery for the 2022 MotoGP season, when the French team will field one of the most exciting rider line-ups in over two decades in the premier-class.

After dominating last year's Moto2 World Championship, Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez are remaining as team-mates by both moving up to MotoGP with Tech3.

The pair won 13 of the 18 rounds last season, with Gardner getting the better of rookie Fernandez by just four points in the title chase. Best-of-the-rest Marco Bezzecchi was nearly 100 points adrift.

“I am thrilled to start my first season in the MotoGP class," said Gardner. "This is the dream of every motorcycle racer and I cannot wait to get started. We already had a few tests in 2021 that were encouraging, so I am very excited to improve myself, continue to discover the bike, and be able to learn about this amazing class with so many talented riders.

"I am also looking forward to working again with Tech3, getting along with the team, and continuing the relationship with KTM. This is going to be a long,but interesting year.

"I know it won’t always be easy but I will always push, try and give the best of myself in order to get the best results we can without going too crazy. I will certainly take this season step by step, but I am very excited to start riding again."

Fernandez added: "I am really happy to do my first MotoGP season and it is a great opportunity for me. I remember only three years ago I was competing in the Moto3 World Championship, and now here I am in the MotoGP class. It is an absolute pleasure.

"This winter, I prepared differently than previous years in order to gain muscle and get stronger. The MotoGP bike is so much more powerful. The braking is different... Everything requires more physical fitness, so I did motocross and road bike training, some cycling and running, and I feel ready.

"My main goal this season will be to advance and progress race by race, and enjoy myself in every single one of them.”

After celebrating its first MotoGP race wins with Miguel Oliveira in 2020, Tech3 didn't grace the podium with either Danilo Petrucci or Iker Lecuona last year - when KTM's RC16 struggled for consistency in its first season without concessions (but still took one win each for factory riders' Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder).

“The new season is always an intense moment, exciting and emotional," said Herve Poncharal, Tech3 team prinicpal. "2022 is very special for us because we have the pleasure to welcome Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez, who respectively finished first and second in the 2021 Moto2 World Championship.

"There has been a lot of work done this winter to prepare for the 2022 season, both on the bike and in the organization of the KTM MotoGP technical structure. The Tech3 KTM Factory Team has had a few changes of its own too. We are now impatient and ready to start.

"With two rookies, we don’t expect to win the championship, but our main target will be to win the Rookie of the Year title in the MotoGP class.

"We are hoping to do some strong finishes, Top 10 and why not Top 5? With riders like Remy and Raul, we have to dream high. Over the last years, rookies have reached podiums, so it can be us this year.”

As rookies, both Gardner - who recently underwent surgery for a wrist fracture in a motocross accident - and Fernandez are eligible to take part in the Sepang Shakedown Test, which starts on Monday.