FIRST LOOK: Jack Miller’s 2023 Red Bull KTM livery
Miller arrives alongside Binder at the Austrian manufacturer after three wins and twelve podiums during two years at the factory Ducati team, plus a career-best fourth in the 2021 world championship.
The Australian, 28, is the only rider on the grid not to have raced in the intermediate Moto2 class but now has the chance to make history as MotoGP’s first race winner on three different brands of bike.
The 2023 team colours continue to blend KTM factory orange with the red and white of Red Bull.
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Miller, who stepped straight from Moto3 to the premier-class in 2015, took a shock wet weather victory for Marc VDS Honda at Assen 2016, the first win by a satellite rider since 2006.
However, he split from Honda at the end of the 2017 campaign and started what would become a five-year partnership with Ducati at the satellite Pramac team the following year.
“Good feelings! Joining up with the KTM family again it is all starting to feel rather ‘real’ now," Miller said. "I’ve been thinking about this moment for quite a long time. Finally getting to see the 2023 colours, myself in the suit and all the preparation for the season ahead.
"It’s amazing to be back here at KTM and to be catching up with everybody; it’s a special little taste before we get down to action in Malaysia.”
Binder stunned by becoming KTM’s first MotoGP race winner, as a rookie, in only his third race of the 2020 season.
The South African added another victory with a brave slicks-in-the-rain ride at Austria 2021 and continued to lead the KTM challenge in 2022, when he again finished sixth in the world championship.
While team-mate Miguel Oliveira (tenth overall) took two wet victories last year, Binder had to settle for close runner-up finishes in Qatar, Motegi and Valencia, but their combined efforts netted a surprise second in the teams' standings.
“It has felt like a long off-season already so I’m more than excited to get back to the track and to get started again," Binder said. "My fourth year in the class, and I feel like our best chance so far to really achieve something will be in 2023. We’re ready to go, so let’s get to Sepang and see what those first days bring us.”
After rising rapidly from the back of the field on its 2017 premier-class debut, KTM struggled to build on its breakthrough 2020 campaign, which saw three wins for Binder and Tech3's Oliveira plus five podiums and fifth in the riders' standings by Pol Espargaro.
The factory's progress wasn't helped by the loss of technical concessions for the following year, but - despite a total of seven race wins - KTM is yet to mount a MotoGP riders' championship challenge or finish higher than fourth (out of six) in the constructors' standings.
A restructuring of the MotoGP project, aimed at delivering more refined technical improvements to the race team, began in the winter of 2021-2022 with the arrival of several key personnel from Ducati.
The latest is Andrea Dovizioso and Enea Bastianini’s former Ducati crew chief Alberto Giribuola, who will work in a senior role at Red Bull KTM this year.
“We are going into our seventh season but I feel the six previous years were amazing in terms of building the project to this level and already having these wins and podiums in the pocket," said KTM Motorsports Director Pit Beirer. "It has been a crazy journey and we enjoyed it a lot but now it is not enough to just ‘be there’ anymore and be a good, organized team; we need results.
"I feel super-confident with the two boys we have onboard. I feel that Brad and Jack are both different but, at the end of the day, both similar. They are pushing very hard and that is exactly what we need. As always, we go into a long – and very different – racing season with so much work and effort from the people and partners behind us: from all the engineers at the factory, the excellent test team and new and trusted sponsors. We have made a big push for 2023 to be better than ever.”
There is now only one officially titled 'KTM' team in MotoGP, with the satellite Tech3 squad competing under the sister GASGAS brand.
Miller and Binder will take their new colours on track during the official Sepang test from February 10-12.