Herve Poncharal’s veteran squad continues its partnership with KTM in 2023, having linked up with the Austrian manufacturer in 2019 after 20 years as a Yamaha customer.
Tech3 originally ran with Red Bull Cola title sponsorship backing in 2019 and 2020, before it was entered as KTM Tech3 Factory Racing from 2021 without a notable title partner.
For 2023, the outfit will run under the GasGas banner, which is a subsidiary company owned by KTM - unveiling its striking livery at a launch event on Saturday.
Though racing as GasGas, the bike Tech3 will run will be the KTM RC16 it has fielded since 2019 - but has simply been rebadged.
A miserable 2022 campaign for its all-rookie line-up of Remy Gardner and Raul Fernandez yielded Tech3 just 27 points as it finished last in the teams’ championship standings.
KTM boss Pit Beirer admitted last November in an interview with Autosport that the marque’s decision to place two rookies at Tech3 stunted development progress.
And, while KTM will still house a rookie at Tech3 in the form of reigning Moto2 world champion Augusto Fernandez, it welcomes back Pol Espargaro after two difficult seasons at Honda.
Espargaro made his MotoGP debut with Tech3 in 2014 when it ran Yamaha bikes, before moving to helm KTM’s factory assault in 2017 - the Spaniard instrumental in turning the RC16 into a winning motorcycle, with Espargaro scoring six podiums between 2017 and 2020 with the marque.
Raul Fernandez has moved to RNF Racing for 2023 after his sole Tech3 campaign, while Gardner now races in World Superbikes with GRT Yamaha after he was deemed “not professional enough” last year by KTM.
There are now only four teams left to unveil their 2023 colours, with VR46 Ducati on Monday 6 March and LCR Honda on Tuesday 7 March.
Aprilia and its RNF satellite squad will reveal their 2023 liveries on Friday 10 March and Thursday 16 March respectively.
