Previous year's world championship Arnaud Vincent was brought on board to drive for the team,[1] but he was replaced only after nine races by the Finn Mika Kallio instead.

He scored a third place for the team at the opening round in South Africa, improving this result at the Italian GP when he narrowly lost out on victory to Roberto Locatelli.

By round 6 in the Netherlands, Stoner had scored KTM's first ever pole position on Friday[12] yet another podium on Saturday, this time in the form of third place.

The best result of the year came at the 2004 Malaysian Grand Prix when he won the race, narrowly beating out eventual champion Andrea Dovizioso by only 0.029 seconds.

[13][14] He then scored his final podium of the year at the penultimate round in Australia, finishing third in front of his home crowd.

Mika Kallio was less consistent, but still managed to score a second place podium - his only of the year - being narrowly beaten by Héctor Barberá at the Portuguese round.

Kallio took fastest lap and third place at the French round, and took five consecutives pole positions from Italy to Germany.

The KTM Junior team consisted out of Michael Ranseder, Stefan Bradl and replacement rider Blake Leigh-Smith.

The team now consisted out of Randy Krummenacher, American rookie Stevie Bonsey and experienced Japanese rider Tomoyoshi Koyama.

Koyama scored his first ever third place podium in Turkey, a feat he bettered when he won KTM's first and only race of the season in Catalunya - narrowly defeating Gábor Talmácsi by just 0.049 seconds.

[32] At the end of the 2008 world championship, KERS was installed, making the team the first to use such a solution in grand prix motorcycle racing.

This year marked the last one as an official Factory entry, as KTM had decided to withdraw its efforts at the end of the 2009 season.

The driver line-up had changed slightly for this final year, with Marc Márquez staying but Krummenacher and Koyama leaving.

American rookie Cameron Beaubier and Norwegian wildcard rider Sturla Fagerhaug were also brought on board for this season.

KTM was still struggling this year, its only high point being the third place podium Márquez grabbed at round 3 in Spain.