KTM lost Fabiano Sterlacchini last month as he and the manufacturer couldn’t reach an agreement for the contract renewal. It was a heavy loss for KTM, Pit Peirer assured, recalling such ‘eventful’ week, during the Assen round.
Speaking to GPOne, the CEO of Pierer Mobility looked back at when KTM and Sterlacchini tried to get to a agreement for the (former) Head of MotoGP Technology of the austrian, saying: ‘It was an eventful week for us. Fabiano´s contract ran out at the end of last month. We had a few talks during the last few weeks. We tried to renew it. We were working on a new three-year contract with him, but we just couldn’t agree on some things. That’s why we decided to split up’.
Pierer then explained what were the reasons that led the italian to lead the manufacturer, after coming in 2022 from Ducati: ‘For him, the distance that separated him from his home, was one part, but not the deciding factor. I don’t want to use the geographic distance as our main excuse for the end of our collaboration. We simply couldn’t agree on certain points regarding the next course of events’.
He added: ‘We would’ve liked to finish the job we started years ago. We had a plan and a mission. But, somehow, we had to give up on what no longer made me happy’.
Still and despite losing Sterlacchini, the team is in good hands, he assured: ‘We have a great staff at KTM and an skillful engineer at home who’ll take over from Fabiano, who left the company as a friend. He wants the best for our project for the future. We’ll continue our way of working, also without Fabiano’.
The reality is the last win of KTM, on sunday, happened in 2021 and since then, Brad Binder only got to win Sprint races.