It’s quite complex to get to the right point and then maybe you get some negatives, like if another frequency is added to the bike, because tyre performance changes or the heat in the bike makes something start to flex, then you can get a complete different frequency to the one you wanted to kill, so if you are unlucky you have something better at the start of the race, then the frequencies multiply when things change during the race and you end up with a triple frequency.
When all this [tuned mass dampers] started, we said, ‘This is like active suspension showing up,’ [active suspension is banned in MotoGP] and then we were told, ‘No, no, active suspension will never be allowed in MotoGP.’ It would be good if mass dampers were out [banned].
What do you think of MotoGP’s 2027 technical rules?
Basically, the big argument for a reduction in engine capacity was safety concerns, but we know that corner speeds will be higher, and this is where we crash.
KTM used two more tail aero sets during 2025. Tail aero isn’t homologated, so manufacturers can use as many updates as they like. From 2027 the tail area must be homologated, like the rest of the bike
Oxley
Also, would friendlier tyres with less outright performance be better?
I say to Michelin, the poor guys, because now they have pretty good performance… I say, ‘The grip is so incredibly high but the margin for the rider is small, so you can go so fast, but the next thing, no control and crash.’
I always asked for that [friendlier tyres] from Dorna and from Michelin. I’ve told them, ‘You must make tyres with less grip, because if the riders had less grip and a wider window, then the really good riders will make the real difference because they will feel more than the others.’ But it looks like it’s more important for them to break lap records. If the riders had more margin, imagine how much [crash] budget that would save us!
Interview with Sebastian Risse, Malaysian GP, October 2025
Oxley: what are the positives and negatives of this year’s RC16?
Risse: This year’s bike is not a constant bike, so we have to separate it a bit. Starting from winter testing we had quite a lot of development going on. That seemed to have quite a positive effect in making the bike smoother and turn better, but once we were racing we found a couple of limitations in that direction, so we tried to learn from this and we did learn from it.
Then towards the summer break we start introducing a couple of updates, which were mainly focused on turning. This was our target and I think we achieved it, though that didn’t directly coincide with results. We saw there was also a positive trend at suitable tracks and with our riders riding well in this phase. Many things were coming together, so we don’t relate all the success we got around the summer break to this update only, but for sure it contributed.
Then coming to different track layouts we saw that with this approach we had some limitations and we had to work on those and that’s basically what we are facing now, during the overseas races.
There have been some ups and downs — in some races we saw potential, while in others we saw more challenges. But the global upward trend is quite clear.
Bastianini’s RC16, with thumb break, electronic controls, ride-height adjuster and high-volume WP forks
Oxley
You had a tough Sunday at Phillip Island, because your riders were having to use a lot of wheelspin to turn the bike, which affected tyre life, so is that something you need to fix?
It’s not something you want to fix, because you need to use it [spin], but you shouldn’t use it more than needed, so it’s a compromise.
The more you have to turn the bike on the exit of the corner means the less you were turning before. In the end you pay with that and it’s the only tool you have left.
So you need to improve entry turning?
It’s sure a focus but, you know, motorcycles are a big, big compromise, and with everything it depends on what you have to give away with other things — if it’s worth it or not, so it’s always a compromise.
The rear tyre has become more and more important in MotoGP, so how do you help the rider use the tyre better?
To be honest we want to use both tyres better. We see clearly we need to use the front in a better way and we are working on that. Of course, in every phase of the corner you have a different balance between the front and the rear in terms of turning the bike, so this ratio is always changing. But as long as both tyres are on the ground, we need to use both of them better.
You had new aero in August, how did that help?
If you look in detail we made a previous aero step after the Aragon tests [in June]. Already there we changed the balance between the different areas, in general, not the balance between front and rear, so of course when you target something else you have to pay in terms of downforce or whatever. It was another step we did there but it wasn’t the only one when we changed our concept and went to different downforce.
You have four [aero] areas of the bike, and for each of them you have two homologations for the season and you can combine them, plus you have freedom at the tail, so you can make many combinations out of all those.
Acosta testing aero revisions
Oxley
During the season you changed your seat aero from the wing you’d been using for years to downforce fins. Why?
The aero has to work together with the rest of the bike, so we found some other ways to achieve what we were looking for with this tail wing, so we didn’t need it anymore, and then there are more efficient ways in using this concept on the aero side.
Acosta scored twice as many points as your next best rider, so where does he make the difference?
I would say Pedro’s riding style is Pedro’s riding style. If he makes good results or bad results, it’s not that he changed his riding style upside down. At the moment he’s riding very, very accurate and he’s very, very focused the whole weekend, so he’s putting everything together much better than he was at the beginning of the season. It’s not that his approach has changed. Of course he’s getting more experienced and we are getting more experienced working with him, so we work better with him, but nothing’s changed upside down.
You introduced a mass damper at the start of last season…
I cannot comment on the mass damper, but if you want, we can talk about vibrations in the bike, about chatter.
Chatter has been a problem for everyone, except Ducati, with the current Michelin rear…
Absolutely. The bike consists of many parts and they all shake and vibrate against each other. And the biggest question mark and biggest actor in all this is the tyres. When the tyres change, everything changes. For example, every component has its natural frequency, so maybe something suddenly hits it more or less and more or less you are in trouble.
We treat our bike as a general combination of all its components and we see in many areas that we need to control the frequencies to not make a mess, basically to not have a party between all the different resonances.
A mass damper can be one tool to do this but we see this issue more generally, so it doesn’t make sense for us to talk about mass damper or no mass damper and it doesn’t have everything to do with what you see on the bike [ie the appearance of KTM’s mass damper at the start of 2025]. I understand what you perceive, but we are constantly working on the vibrational behaviour of the bike, it doesn’t matter how it looks from the outside.
An RC16 sprint tank, which sits mostly under the seat. A sticker tells us it holds 11.97 litres (limit is 12 litres) and weighs 3.58 kilos
Oxley
It’s a vast area of learning – resonances and so on…
Of course. The tyres change over race distance, also the conditions and the whole bike also, and all this is coming together. This is something everybody is facing in different ways.
Ducati is once again stronger than anyone and Aprilia has really come on this season, so what’s the last step you need?
We could have won some races this year, but we didn’t, so that’s the first thing we need to fix and make a step. To make the next step with the bike, we are clearly focused on cornering, be that from limitations of the turning, of the chatter, or of the oversteer/understeer behaviour of the bike. This is our main focus, but you cannot focus on this discarding either the entry or the exit, so the compromise between those three has to get better.
What do you expect from the 850s and their development process?
Of course having less power available and having the bike a bit lighter is something that quite directly steers the aero development, so beside the effect of reducing aero from a regulatory point of view, the game of aero will be a little different in the future. Beside this, the tyres are the biggest player. You will need to make the bike for those tyres [the Pirellis] and the tyres may also be in development, so you need to be in sync. Then you have to react to the problems you get, or to the biggest potential you see there.
This is the biggest challenge for next season and then for 2027, because at the same time you’re developing a 1000cc bike and an 850.
We have set ourselves up in a way that we have the resources to use all the track time and [allocated test] tyres that we have. I think we know from our past that our strong point is quick reaction – understanding problems quickly, then first finding a workaround and then a nice solution, so we will be focused on using these strong points.
Yes, that also means things can go in the opposite direction. It all depends on what the tyres need and where the boundaries of engine power, aero and so on meet. I think we are able to tackle both – we have a good programme in the winter for next year’s bike and then we will have to define the next working packages based on that outcome.
Ride-height and holeshot devices will be banned at the end of next season – will you be happy to say goodbye to them?
One half of me says, yes. The other half, no. KTM have stated many times that, for the sport, these are not the right things. We have good ride-height tech and we are proud of it but it’s not the right thing for the sport.