We are still a long way off the 2022 MotoGP World Championship opener but Tech3 KTM might already be finding itself having to deal with a potentially tricky situation among its two new riders, who will be carrying their Moto2 rivalry right into MotoGP side-by-side.
The Valencia MotoGP finale saw the fourth and last of the categories draw to a championship-winning conclusion with Remy Gardner doing just enough to resist his Red Bull Ajo KTM team-mate Raul Fernandez to take his first world title.
An engrossing and unexpected title battle that saw the team-mates snap up 13 of the 18 race wins, Gardner spent much of his season playing a rear guard action as rookie Fernandez grew in confidence and pace.
In the end it was the Spaniard that would come away with more wins - eight in all - but Gardner’s greater consistency helped bolster his own five wins to send the title his way by a mere four points.
Prompting KTM to promote both to MotoGP for 2022, again alongside each other at Tech 3 Racing, the inter-team rivalry between the rookie pair is already beginning to brew as they look to prove themselves in the premier class.
Indeed, eyebrows were raised over the Valencia weekend when Fernandez reportedly told the media that he was the ‘moral winner’ of Moto2, adding Gardner received more help from the team in winning the title. When asked for his opinion on that, Gardner was blunt in his reply.
"Who's the champion?,” Gardner told reporters in Jerez. "He can think what he thinks, but I think the team gave us both a fair shot at it and the better man won on the track. I don't know, it's a bit of bullshit, if you ask me."
Fernandez for his part did play down the comments saying, “that is the past and now I am focused on MotoGP, maybe my words have not been interpreted well, it has been a great season with incredible people in the garage.”
While we might give Fernandez the benefit of the doubt here, it is not the first time the youngster has landed himself in hot water with his comments.
Upon the announcement that Fernandez had been promoted to KTM’s MotoGP effort, he told the media he wasn’t happy with his deal, before intimating he either wanted to remain in Moto2 or would have rather accept a deal from Yamaha that KTM blocked with a hefty exit pay-out clause.
Though Fernandez was announced back in August in Austria, it is known his contract still hadn’t been agreed in the run up to the final race.
