KTM engines deemed unsafe after MotoGP reliability breakdowns
NXTbets Pro | Published On: July 13, 2026
KTM engines
KTM motorsport director Pit Beirer said some of the team’s RC16 MotoGP engines are unsafe to race after a run of reliability breakdowns has shaken confidence inside the garage. The most serious problem has been engines shutting down without warning, and Beirer said the team now considers some units unusable for safety reasons. That assessment reflects a season that has already brought clutch failures and ride-height device failures, but the engine issue stands above the rest because it can end a rider’s run without any warning at speed. KTM has already cut engine performance in an effort to avoid another failure. The move shows how far the team has had to go to protect its riders while it searches for the source of the trouble. The problems have also forced KTM to rethink how it uses its current stock of engines, with the team treating the issue as a safety matter as much as a performance one. Beirer’s comments make clear that KTM does not view the breakdowns as isolated mishaps. The team believes something is wrong inside the RC16 engines, and it is acting on that belief while the season continues.
KTM safety
The latest concern came at the Catalan Grand Prix, when Pedro Acosta’s KTM shut down at high speed and set off a crash after Alex Marquez hit the back of his bike. The Barcelona incident raised rider-safety concerns across MotoGP because the bike lost power in traffic and left Acosta exposed to contact from behind. KTM also believes a separate sensor problem caused Acosta’s bike to shut down repeatedly at Assen, which points to more than one fault path in the current package. Brad Binder has also dealt with the fallout, stopping twice in Italian Grand Prix practice because of engine-related problems. Those incidents have widened the pressure on KTM and made the issue a team-wide problem rather than a single-rider setback. Even with the German Grand Prix weekend passing without obvious technical trouble, the earlier failures have left the team with little room for comfort. The absence of fresh problems over one weekend does not erase the larger pattern. KTM still has to answer for breakdowns that have already affected race pace, disrupted practice and put riders in dangerous situations on track. The safety risk has become the central issue, not just the reliability record.
KTM inspection
KTM is now seeking special permission to unseal and inspect its engines during the summer break so it can find the source of the problem. MotoGP’s engine-freeze rules require unanimous approval from the manufacturers before KTM can open or modify its engines, and that approval has not come through yet. Aprilia has backed KTM’s request, but Ducati, Honda and Yamaha have not agreed. That leaves KTM waiting on the other manufacturers before it can move ahead with a deeper investigation. The request shows how serious the situation has become. KTM does not want to guess at the cause of the shutdowns. It wants to inspect the engines directly and confirm what is failing inside them. That process would give the team a better chance to understand whether the problem sits in the engine itself or in a related system that keeps triggering the stoppages. For now, KTM has already taken the practical step of lowering performance to protect its riders and avoid another repeat of the problem. The team’s next move depends on the response from the rest of the paddock, but Beirer’s message is clear. KTM sees a safety issue, it sees a technical fault, and it wants access to its engines before the next phase of the season begins.
