BRADLEY Smith faces a battle to remain on the MotoGP grid next year after learning ahead of this weekend’s Spanish GP that he had lost his Red Bull KTM factory racing seat.

The 27-year-old’s two-year contract expires at the end of this season, when he will be replaced by Tech3 Yamaha star Johann Zarco.

But Tech3’s switch to KTM for 2019 could help Smith secure a d.

He said: “The nice thing about it all, and KTM will tell you as as well, is that this announcement doesn’t mean that I’m out of the group.

“It just means that I’m out of the factory team.

“They’ve still got two bikes available on the grid.

“They would like to put me on one of them, and they can sit and wait and decide what they want to do and if my results warrant that.

“But right now that’s the main focus for us as a group, and that option’s available to me.”

Zarco won consecutive Moto2 championships in 2015 and 2016 and sits fifth in this season’s drivers’ standings.

He will partner Smith’s current KTM teammate Pol Espargaro, who signed a contract extension with the factory outfit earlier this week.

While the Englishman was disappointed to lose his seat, he admitted it was hardly unexpected.

He said: “Let’s not beat around the bush, the simple thing is that they said ‘you’re not out of a job, but you’re out of the team’, which initially is always hard to swallow.

“But I’d be lying to you if I said I didn’t know that it was on the cards.”

Smith finished 26 points behind Espargaro last season and is without a point in 2018, but is looking to turn the corner at Jerez tomorrow.

He said: “I seemed to have figured it out the last few weekends.

“Everything seems to be going pretty good.

“I just need to make the right tyre choice a few times and then we’ll be all right.”