From a press release issued by KTM:

KTM philosophical after first ever road race GP

17.04.2003

The new KTM road racing project spear-headed by reigning World Champion Arnaud Vincent and former number one Roberto Locatelli experienced a quiet introduction into the World Championships at Suzuka.

With the paint of the Red Bull sponsored outfit still fresh and little testing mileage under the orange fairings Vincent lasted two laps in ninth position before suffering engine trouble while Locatelli finished eight places outside the points in 23rd.

Despite the obvious teething troubles the machine certainly looks the part and current technical guru in charge of the team Harald Bartol hinted this might be a brief glimpse into the firm´s future MotoGP plans.

´It looks a bit different from the aerodynamics of other bikes and from the engine side we have a completely new gearbox development going on,´ he said. ´Basically looking to the future, we are developing some things we will use later on in the MotoGP bike. In only four months you don´t have the time to do the full programme of testing and everything. I think it will take three or four races to reach where we should be.