Pol Espargaro explains why restoring 500rpm would help KTM’s MotoGP acceleration, gearing and corner performance rather than simply improving top speed.
Aragon, the first event since KTM was given permission to replace faulty parts inside its MotoGP engines, passed without any obvious reliability issues for the RC16 riders.
However, despite Pedro Acosta returning the manufacturer to the MotoGP podium with second place behind Marc Marquez, it is rumoured that the RC16s were still not back to their ‘normal’ level of engine performance.
It is thought KTM may have wanted to check everything was working correctly at Aragon before raising the rpm back to its original level.
As such, there is speculation that KTM’s riders could regain 500 of their ‘lost’ rpm, lowered since the unspecified manufacturing fault was discovered, from the next round at Misano.
KTM, like Ducati and Aprilia, has had its engine specification frozen since the start of last season.
Brad Binder’s RC16 was again the fastest machine along the Aragon back straight last weekend, having reached 356.4km/h last year compared with a slightly slower 352.9km/h this year.
However, most other manufacturers were also slower in 2026, while top speed can be influenced by factors such as the aero package, slipstreams and wind direction.
Either way, when questioned about the 500rpm rumours after the race, KTM test rider Pol Espargaro, competing at Aragon in place of Maverick Vinales, said he “hoped” the revs would increase.
The Spaniard also explained why changing the rev limit affects much more than just top speed.
“I have no idea what's going to happen with the revs," Espargaro said. "I hope so. It would be nice because when you get revs, it's not just what people imagine – 5th and 6th [gear], and top speed. That’s actually what you get the least.
“What you get more [benefit from] is that sometimes you need to make the gearbox in a different way because you are cutting [hitting the rev limit] so much and you are missing that 500 revs to arrive to the next corner.
“You need to adapt all the gearbox, which affects all the corners. So it's pretty critical.
“So if we get it back in Misano, that's going to be amazing because Misano also is a very grippy track where you need a lot of acceleration and having some more extra revs will help a lot.”
Even if the KTM engines are now working normally, the Austrian manufacturer still paid a price through lost performance while the revs were reduced.
