KTM will strengthen the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MotoGP squad for 2025 and beyond by reaching an agreement with long-standing friend and ally Aki Ajo to take the reigns as Team Manager.
The Finn has overseen his own team, Ajo Motorsport, in Grand Prix racing for more than two decades and begun an official and prosperous spell with KTM in 2012 when they delivered the very first Moto3™ world title with the KTM RC4. Red Bull KTM Ajo won another two championships in the class (2016 with Brad Binder and 2021 with Pedro Acosta) and provided the ideal platform for talent emerging from the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup. Ajo’s Moto3 program assisted six riders to make the breakthrough to the MotoGP category.
In 2017 Ajo expanded Red Bull KTM representation to Moto2™ and amplified the KTM GP Academy through the Grand Prix pyramid. Three more of his riders in the intermediate division went on to MotoGP and the crew claimed three consecutive titles from 2021-2023.
For KTM’s ninth season of MotoGP competition with the KTM RC16 in 2025 and with riders Binder and Acosta in place, Ajo will now assume duties as Team Manager. His intimate knowledge of the company, staff and racers as well as a championship-winning philosophy will take KTM’s MotoGP representation to the next level. KTM is seeking the final few percentages of performance to fight consistently for trophies and believe in Aki’s spirit and organization to make that happen.
The Red Bull KTM Ajo structure in Moto3 and Moto2 will retain the same focus on developing some of the brightest prospects in the KTM GP Academy.
Aki Ajo: “It’s an honor to be offered this great new role and opportunity to work in MotoGP with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. At the moment MotoGP is at a very high level so we need to continue to work in many areas and use the strengths that we have to build this KTM package to an even better standard. We need to keep pushing but I think this project already has many good parts to be right at the very top; we have to manage them in the best way. Thank you to Stefan, Hubert, Pit and Jens and everyone in the KTM structure.”
Pit Beirer, KTM Motorsports Director: “We have a special relationship and a very close collaboration with Aki and so we felt this was the best decision to take the MotoGP project forward. I’ve said it before and will mention it again: he believed in us when we were just getting organized in this paddock, so the trust and the friendship is unmatched. His team’s success speaks for itself. He has won titles with both of the riders that will be in the pitbox for 2025 but that knowledge is just part of the skillset he will bring. We know we can count on a lot of pedigree and, of course, Aki knows our company and the way we race. I’m really pleased and proud that we are taking this challenge together and we are continuing a story that began a long time ago and has had so much success and great stories already.”
