Tech3 is a French motorcycle racing team founded in 1990 by former racer Hervé Poncharal alongside engineer Guy Coulon and Bernard Martignac. The team built its reputation across multiple decades, initially competing in the 250 cc class before moving to MotoGP's predecessor class and then to the premier class itself in 2001.
Tech3's most sustained success at team level came through a long partnership with Yamaha that began in 1999. Over nearly two decades as a Yamaha satellite team, the squad achieved multiple podium finishes in MotoGP and consistently ranked among the leading independent outfits in the championship. Notable riders during the Yamaha years included James Toseland, Colin Edwards, Ben Spies, and Cal Crutchlow. Andrea Dovizioso also raced for the team, replacing Edwards in 2012.
When the Moto2 class was launched in 2010 as a new intermediate category using a standardised Honda engine, Tech3 expanded its presence to include entries in the new series. Riders Yuki Takahashi and Raffaele De Rosa competed in the inaugural Moto2 season on Honda-powered machines using a Tech3 chassis, finishing twelfth and twenty-seventh respectively in the year-end standings.
The results were modest and reflected the competitive landscape of a class that quickly became dominated by specialist chassis constructors — principally Suter in the early years and subsequently Kalex from 2012 onwards. Tech3 did not persist with the in-house chassis programme and transitioned to frames supplied by established Moto2 constructors.
In 2019, Tech3 ended its two-decade partnership with Yamaha in MotoGP and became the official satellite team for KTM. This strategic realignment also affected the team's Moto2 programme: Tech3 switched to KTM chassis in the intermediate class following the partnership announcement. However, KTM withdrew from Moto2 after the 2019 season. Tech3 consequently shifted its junior-class resources to the Moto3 category from 2020, fielding a two-rider team using KTM machinery, and departed Moto2 entirely.
Tech3 recorded its first premier-class victory in its 373rd start at the 2020 Styrian Grand Prix in Austria — KTM's home event — with Miguel Oliveira. Oliveira repeated the achievement at the season finale in Portugal. The team subsequently continued as a KTM satellite under the Red Bull KTM Tech3 banner, before a consortium led by Guenther Steiner acquired full ownership ahead of the 2026 season.
The Tech3 Moto2 chassis represents a single-season venture into constructor activity for a team whose primary identity has always been as a racing operation rather than a manufacturer. The 2010 programme gave Tech3 presence in Moto2's founding year, but the competitive realities of the class — which rapidly consolidated around dedicated chassis builders — meant the in-house frame was not developed beyond its initial season. Tech3's longer motorsport legacy rests on its MotoGP record spanning more than three decades, its role in developing riders including multiple grand prix winners, and its achievement of first-ever premier class victories with KTM machinery in 2020.