Which rider scored the first podium for the KTM factory team in MotoGP?

Pol Espargaró scored the first MotoGP podium for the KTM factory team.

He achieved the milestone at the 2018 Valencian Community Grand Prix on 18 November 2018. Riding the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing RC16, Espargaró finished third behind Andrea Dovizioso and Álex Rins at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo.

The result came in a chaotic, rain-hit finale. The original race was stopped after 13 laps, and the restarted contest ran for 14 laps. Espargaró had crashed in the opening segment but recovered strongly after the restart, eventually benefiting from Valentino Rossi’s fall and holding off Dani Pedrosa.

KTM had entered MotoGP as a factory project in 2017, with Espargaró and Bradley Smith as its riders. The Valencia podium was therefore more than a personal breakthrough: it was the RC16’s first top-three finish in the premier class. KTM’s later milestones included its first MotoGP victory with Miguel Oliveira in 2020, but Oliveira was not the rider who delivered the factory team’s first podium.