The Austrian has been using the orange brand since they returned to MotoGP™, but left at the end of a disappointing season in 2021
After the disappointing end of the 2021 MotoGP™ World Championship, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing announced the departure of team owner Mike Leitner. Austrians have been part of the Orange brand's efforts at MotoGP since returning to the MotoGP™ level in 2015, but in 2022 they will restructure their hierarchy. The 59-year-old will move to a consultant position. There is no official word about his successor, but various media reports suggest that the current Pramac Racing owner, Pramac Racing, will come and fill the vacancy. Leitner initially joined the KTM Racing division and helped build the company's testing team, which began working on the KTM RC16 in 2015 and then the official Red Bull KTM MotoGP team, which made its debut in Valencia at the end of 2016. He has been an important part of KTM MotoGP's race management and organization since 2017, achieving 5 wins and 13 trophies in less than five years of Grand Prix competitions.
As driver Pol Espargaro finished 3rd at the 2018 Gran Premio de la Comunitat Valenciana, he helped the company reach the podium for the first time. By 2020, he has witnessed the first victory of KTM, further loot won by Brad Binder in the Czech Republic, the South African driver and in 2021, and Miguel Oliveira's three victories in Austria (Austria), Portugal (Portugal) and Catalunya (Catalonia) in the past two seasons. Other milestones include Pol Espargaro being 5th in the 2020 Drivers' Standings, while Binder was 6th at the end of the most recent 2021 campaign. Pit Beirer, Director of Motorsport at KTM: "Mike has been a key figure in our mission to fight the best drivers in the road racing world.
We built a MotoGP organization with the right staff and the right riders and achieved great results at the peak of the sport. We started with a blank slate to build our RC16 and the whole program, and under his guidance, we organized a great team; A team that takes on a MotoGP challenge. Now, after seven years together, we have decided to restructure our leadership of MotoGP for the future, and I cannot express how much we would like to thank him for all the work he has done for this project. Mike worked very hard to get us from the back starting position to the front row, his dedication played a role and he was an important part of our success story."