Steiner leads takeover of Tech3 KTM MotoGP team

Former Haas Formula 1 team principal Guenther Steiner has completed his long-mooted takeover of the Tech3 MotoGP team with backing from a consortium of investors.

The buyout was announced in a press conference at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya on Friday at the Catalan Grand Prix. Autosport reported back in August that Steiner was close to finalising the deal.

Steiner was present for the announcement and is expected to gradually take over the management of the squad from its former owner Herve Poncharal.

The acquisition, valued at just under €20million, was facilitated by Apex, a fund managing the capital of a number of high-profile athletes, including McLaren F1 driver Lando Norris and several other unnamed grand prix drivers.

Tech3 has been competing in the premier class of motorcycle racing since 2001, initially running bikes from Yamaha on a customer basis. It switched allegiances to KTM in 2019 and remains its sole satellite team.

Under the terms of the agreement, Tech3 will retain both Maverick Vinales and Enea Bastianini in its line-up, along with all current staff, while maintaining the team’s headquarters in France. 

It is also widely believed that Steiner has secured guarantees from Dorna to retain Tech3’s two grid slots beyond next year. The current contracts between teams and Dorna expire in 2027, when MotoGP will switch to 850cc engine regulations.

The news of Steiner’s Tech3 takeover follows F1 owner Liberty Media becoming the majority shareholder in MotoGP’s promoter Dorna Sports in July.

Under Liberty Media, the valuations of F1 teams have skyrocketed, with McLaren Racing reportedly worth £3billion after Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat and Abu Dhabi’s CYVN Holdings purchased the remaining stake in the squad from other investors this week.

Steiner began his career as a mechanic in rallying before switching to F1 in 2001 with Jaguar. He remained with the Milton Keynes squad after its takeover by Red Bull, serving as its technical operations director in 2005.

He also led Red Bull’s entry into NASCAR the following year, but is most famous for building the US-based F1 team that later came to be known as Haas.

His no-nonsense attitude, portrayed through Netflix’s Drive to Survive series, turned him into a household name.

The Italian was not retained by Haas at the end of his contract in 2023, and has since focused on media work as a pundit and columnist. The acquisition of Tech3 marks his return to motorsport in a managerial capacity.