While fuel is shaping up to be a major talking ꦏpoint in MotoGP due to the forthcoming move to non-fౠossil fuels (40% from 2024, 100% for 2027) KTM’s Heinz Payreder highlighted that “engine performance is driven by oil.”

That’s not just in terms of outright power but, with only seven engine changes allowed over the 20 rounds, limiting the loss of performance as each♑ engine gets ‘older’.

“Now fuel is [a talking point] for everybody, but racing oil is equally or more important. Because eng🌱ine performance is driven☂ by oil,” said Payreder, Head of Engine Production and Testing at KTM.

“And also the reliability of the engine, in terms of how much power the e🐼ngine loses in kilometres. These are aspects that are seen by technicians, but mဣany times are not [mentioned].

“It’s not just about fitting the oil to the engine, but the en꧋gine to the oil.

“Normally it's the valve and the piston that are the most stressed parts because of the heat and the speed," but&nbs✤p;the bearings for the connecting rod are also a high-risk area.

On the level of 'person꧙alisation' involved, Exxon Mobil’s Tomek Young said: “We joke that maybe we could create an oil specifically for one rider versus the other!

“I mean, this is our bread and butter. We put this engine oil together from components in-house. And that oil for KTM is actually quite interesting. We have, for example, a unique component in it which is not u🧸sed anywhere else. We're bringing it specifically for KTM.

“What advantages can it bring? We look at that oil and we try to understand how th♊e overall composition correlates with engine performance, deposits, losses, and bearing wear. And deposits are so complex, even different parts of the piston. You can assess how deposits develop, the corrosion, power loss.”

During their prelimi🐬nary discussi🙈ons with KTM, the Austrian factory made clear what it wanted out of the partnership.

"We know they wouldn't put our oil in their bike if there wasn't an improvement. The sponsorship is not enough. It's never about the mon🧸ey. It's about performance," Young said.

“In the first meeting that we had [the KTM] guys were saying, ‘We'll l✤eave no stone unturned. We're going to ♑look at everything methodically, and in 2024, we go for a championship’."

Non-fossil fuels ‘not plug and play’ but ‘similar performance’

Looking at the incoming next ge𒐪nerat🤡ion of non-fossil MotoGP fuels, Payreder confirmed that some engine set-up changes will be needed but doesn’t expect performance to drop.

“Very, very similar. There’s ღnot a bꦦig difference,” he said. “But for the long term, we want to gain [engine performance]. That's always our goal.”

“The timing definitely,” he said of engine modifications to suit the non-fossil fuel. “We will try to use the same combusti𒁃on chamber but will also test some different specs.

“It will not be plug and play. Because the components [i𒁏n the fuel] are different, the combustion speed is different. So at the end, as a minimum, we will have to do a new calibration.”

KTM are currently third and eighth in the world championship standings with Brad Binder and Jack Miller r🅷espectively. Both have&n൩bsp;made podium appearances, with Binder also taking two Sprint wins.

VR46 Ducati's Marco Bezzecchi, currently second in the 💝world championship, is the only rider to have 'withdrawn' one of his engines so far this⛄ season.

Yama🍌ha's Franco Morbidelli has 'used' four different engines, with the rest of the grid either still alternating between the original two from Portimao or a third.