KTM will withdraw as a chassis manufacturer from Moto2 at the end of this season and will also brand its Moto3 bikes as Husqvarna for 2020.

The manufacturer made an announcement today as it announced a fresh, five-year deal with MotoGP bosses to remain on the premier-class grid but motorsport director Pit Beirer said KTM will still keep close links with Aki Ajo’s teams.

“First of all it is fantastic for us to continue to stay in ‘sixth gear’ as a company in MotoGP and to be able to keep pushing hard to achieve our goals,” said Beirer.

“With our knowledge of more than three-hundred FIM world championships in so many classes we know the ingredients to have success in racing and we are determined not to move from our objective.

“For this I want to thank the KTM AG board for the extra vote of confidence and for all the hard work and belief that every single person who touches this project has made so far.

Secondly we have looked at the entire programme and know that our effort has to be well placed, and we believe that MotoGP and Moto3 are the main platforms for us moving forwards.

“Thanks to the great work and experience with Aki we can maintain a link to Moto2 and the perhaps what is the final preparation needed for the jump to MotoGP.

“We feel strongly that we can have this asset even though we will vastly reduce our presence as a chassis contributor. We can feel the passion for MotoGP at places like Red Bull Ring this weekend and it allows us to feed off that energy. We believe that exciting times are coming for us as a racing division and as a company.”