Motorsports Director for the KTM Pit Beirer is somebody who can probably understand this situation better than anyone as far as how the future is looking for many of the leading motorcycle championships around the World.

Always direct and honest, Beirer gave us a lot of information about KTM and their future, and what he feels will be the best solution for the 2020 MXGP and MX2 World championships after this long break due to the coronavirus.

MXLarge: Pit, thanks for calling, I really appreciate it, because I can imagine you are really busy?

Beirer: You know, it is crazy, the weeks are as busy as normal, but nothing is happening, no racing and that is very frustrating. The week is over and so many phone calls and e-mails and nothing is going ahead.

MXLarge: I can imagine in this period with the World in the situation it is in, nobody is prepared for this and you probably have to cover a lot of stuff?

Beirer: When this whole thing hit us, we decided we would soon close the factory, but we still had people going to England and Holland for the Grand Prix’s. Around the 14^th of 15^th of March I decided to close the racing department overnight, nobody told me to do this, but I was sure there was going to be a big break and while the racing department is there to promote the brand, to get business going, to sell more motorcycles, but I could see this was not going to go well in the coming weeks and months. Closing the racing department also meant we saved costs, so we closed it over night and another week we were still producing bikes, but then we had to close the whole company.

MXLarge: That must be a massive task to get that all organized?

Beirer: In my position, we have around 400 people Worldwide who are leaning to our racing department and then it is just an administration monster that is coming towards you, because we have different programs in different countries, you have people in Germany, Italy, Austria, Belgium, America and every country treats them different, so you had to look what do we do with these 50 people here, and those 30 people there, how to get them into the short term program of their country and government, or how we close it down, because we had the first target to cut costs, but not put people off work, we didn’t want anyone to lose their job. So, the first two weeks was just crazy with all the administration, because if you get support from the government, you have to be sure people have used all their holidays and their overtime hours, so you need to check that for every single person and in our case 400 times. Obviously all these things we never check, because racing people just want to race, they don’t care about holidays or free hours you have, because in the racing season you just work hard and then when it is over you take your holidays. I have never had to check that with my people, because everyone wants to work when the season is on.

MXLarge: You are dealing with riders, teams, promoters from MotoGP, Enduro, Rally and MXGP and maybe even governments around the World, now you have dealt with a lot of people in a lot of different areas, what is your opinion on when we might get back to racing?

Beirer: I mean, I am also the optimistic guy and I think you know me well enough to know that Geoff, so I am also not following all the guys who talk to an end, that the economy is finished and the racing is finished, no, nothing is finished. We have to come back to normality as quickly as possible, and we all know this is a dramatic situation and I am not stupid and I don’t have the medicine, or a vaccine, it will not be fixed and we will not have independent travel opportunities. What I see, we have to all learn how to limit the infection jump, so we all keep distance, we all don’t travel, we all clean our hands more. That is 80% of the problem, but we also have to restart the economy and use the distance and the knowledge to restart a normal life as much as possible. I do eventually see a medicine ready, to help people who are infected and help them straight away. On the long end, I see a vaccine coming before the end of the year. I think we need to be smart and optimistic. From the racing point of view, I think we still see racing return from August, September, October and at the beginning a see a limited number in the paddock and way less spectators. That might be easier for MotoGP, as they have a great television show also income for the paddock, so racing with no public makes more sense than example in motocross, where we need the public to make the whole thing run. I think we need to limit ourselves in numbers, do that for a two, three, four weeks, and in the mean time we can find the right medicines and then I hope in August, September or whatever, we will meet with some smart behaviour from one side and then we go full gas again. I trust all these fantastic medical people around the World. You look at racing how often we find a limit, and then find it again, with improvements in the bikes or riders, all our fantastic engineers and riders, continue to find something to go faster again, and while the medicine is not yet here, with all the brainstorming and money that is going into looking for a vaccine, then we will find that.

MXLarge: Obviously they decided recently to stop all major sporting events in France and Germany and if we look at Germany or Austria, they are doing an awesome job in keeping control of the infections and deaths. As a German you must be very comfortable that your country is putting in such a good effort?

Beirer: Well, of course, if you forget the racer for a little while, you do feel comfortable that your country has it under control. Across the border, Austria was really strict in locking this down and Germany has also done that, although I do live in Bavaria, in the south and we have the highest numbers here. Still, it feels good that they reacted strongly. If some countries suffer like crazy and the economy, then we won’t have racing, because we need to do this globally, otherwise we can all just sit at home.

MXLarge: I was speaking to Dave Thorpe and he mentioned his wife has him doing a lot of odd jobs around the house and he can’t wait to get back to work. How has lockdown been for you?

Beirer: Fortunately, I can’t walk, so my wife can’t give me any jobs and fix all the crap that needs to be done around the house. It is strange, because I am always at home, and many things I do still through internet, but it is a strange feeling. I have travelled so much in my life; it doesn’t bother me to spend time at home and you started with being positive and for me it is positive to be spending time at home and not travelling. I can tell you I am at a time I want to travel again.

MXLarge: How about KTM, you mentioned you have closed down for the time being, but how will KTM come through this period?

Beirer: At the moment we are strong and have a strong plan to get through this crisis. We have a program for the next weeks and month, and we don’t want to lose people, but we do have to think let’s say backwards, forwards. So we have to think about our suppliers, if we just cut costs, the supplier has a problem and then our suppliers are not there anymore, so we need to think about him and take his material, and we need to help and support our dealers, because  if we don’t support them, they won’t be there, and we also need to take care of the 4000 people in the company, and that is a massive job. I can not be more thankful for our directors and Mr Pierer how strong they handle that situation. That is why for the first time in my career, I say motorsport needs to take a step back, because we can save costs from not moving and now we need to save the mother, which is KTM and everything will be good again and we can go racing again. It is important to also keep the people together. That is why it is important now in May to start to come back to normality and the shops start opening. Now we are allowed shops with 400 square meters and now as of next Monday, shops from 800 square meters will be allowed to open. I think people still want to buy a motorcycle and people still want to go back on bikes and then the company will be strong again. KTM is strong and the government in Austria had one of the strongest strategies to support us in this short-term work model and we are well prepared to fight this.

MXLarge: Obviously MXGP was going to start in June, now it is July, and even that seems a little too positive with everything that is going on. There is even talk about it being from September until February, although Giuseppe (Luongo) thinks this is the very worst plan. I can imagine you talk a lot with Infront and Giuseppe, how do you and KTM look at the future plans for MXGP in 2020?

Beirer: I mean it isn’t no matter what, we have a great relationship with Giuseppe and Infront. We have a responsibility for people who are working in this sport, and that is many people, but we can’t put a maximum number of races over the winter and spend all the money we saved from not racing the first six months of the year. We can save some money, and that is a clear calculation. That money is needed now, in this situation to keep the company strong for the future. We are happy with the second part of the season, maybe with half or a third of the races, but we are not interested in packing all the races we missed into the winter. Also, somewhere, around middle of December, we need a break, and this was the corona season and the corona World champion, and I am not a big fan of carrying everything over into 2021 and then jump straight into the 2021 season. My request to the promoter and to the FIM is to organize a really super strong and short season, travel maybe much more, also going back to back with races or whatever is needed, so with whatever they come up with, we will be on the start line, but let’s finish it before the end of the year to come back strong in 2021. Eventually, going back to a normal yearly budget, and go back to normal working hours for the people. Let’s hope we can crown a World champion before Christmas.