Moto3 squad Ambrogio Racing will be switching to Mahindra machinery starting from Misano.
The team was fielding German rider, Luca Amato, and South African team-mate Brad Binder on Honda/Suter machiney, but team owner Fiorenzo Caponera decided to switch to the more competitive bike.
“Improving the team’s performance is our constant target, as we want to give our riders the best possible chance of showing their talent.
Mahindra is a recent name in the World Championship, but its commitment and excellent results so far this season make Mahindra the perfect choice for our programme,” said Caponera.
This switch is another loss of face for Honda, who has once again threaten to pullout of the Moto3 championship next season.
After the inaugural Moto3 season in 2012 which was won by Sandro Cortese on a KTM, in 2013 several teams decided to drop Honda for KTM, and a little more than halfway through this season other squads are now planning to jump from the Honda ship next year and than includes Fausto Gresini who seems to have already reached an agreement to field KTMs, and even Team Italia is now considering a switch.
According to Speedweek.
com HRC Executive Vice-President, Shuhei Nakamoto is saying that KTM is destroying the class, while KTM hit back that Honda is whining and a sore loser.
Currently their are five KTM riders in the top five, Miguel Oliveira is 6th and he rides Mahindra and the best Honda rider is Jack Miller who is 7th and he signed with Red Bull KTM on Saturday.
Nakamoto told the German website that the equipment in Moto3 is more expensive than in Moto2, and the KTM and Mahindra are driving up the prices and that is not in the ’spirit of the regulations’ and in his personal opinion the two manufacturers are destroying the sport, he also denied that Honda is building a more powerful Moto3 racer.
Last April, the GP Commission approved a reduction cost for Moto3 engine packages, limiting it to €68,000 and will continue to allow timing chain replacement on Honda engines at regular intervals in 2014, while in 2015 the maximum revs permitted for Moto3 machines will be reduced from 14,000 rpm to 13,500 rpm.