Pit Beirer has confirmed that one of the best F1 drivers in history, Lewis Hamilton, is one of a number of parties interested in investing in KTM during one of the darkest hours in their history that sees the company in self-administration and frankly, fighting for survival, following debts allegedly approaching three billion euros.
Hamilton has always been a big fan of MotoGP and with Liberty media, the owners of F1 now also about to be in charge of MotoGP, there is an obvious cross-over that makes sense for Hamilton who has previously ridden Valentino Rossi’s Yamaha MotoGP machine to underline his love of the sport.
Beirer, speaking to German publication, Speedweek, admitted the talks are “concrete.” With investement interest from people as high profile and wealthy as Lewis Hamilton it gives renewed hope that KTM can be rejuvenated over time.
Beirer stated the MotoGP team would have to run under it’s own steam, hence the investors, saying: “We had to, under the pressure that the company was under currently, think about how you can design something like that. To do this, a lot of organizational changes would have to be made; the entire road racing program would have to be put on its own feet. There is a lot of interest from investors, which makes us very happy.”
And Beirer added on Hamilton: “I can only say that we had very interesting discussions with his management. It is no secret that Lewis Hamilton is interested in MotoGP and is thinking about having his own team. There are concrete discussions here too.”
If it all works out, maybe Hamilton could ride Lommel with MXGP legend, Jeffrey Herlings, to get an insight into how hard motocross is – that would certainly bring some mainstream eyes to sport and the brand!
See him on Valentino Rossi’s machine below, 7 million views on Sky Sports YouTube and 7.8 million on F1 YouTube, just to underline the exposure Hamilton can give!
