MotoGP: Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Announces New Team Manager

KTM is set to enhance its Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MotoGP team in 2025 by appointing long-time partner Aki Ajo as team manager.

Apr 13, 2024; Austin, TX, USA; Jack Miller (43) of Australia and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rides during practice for the MotoGP Grand Prix of the Americas at Circuit of The Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

KTM is set to enhance its Red Bull KTM Factory Racing MotoGP team in 2025 by appointing long-time partner Aki Ajo as team manager. As KTM enters its ninth season with the RC16 MotoGP bike and riders Brad Binder and Pedro Acosta, Ajo will take charge, leveraging his deep understanding of the team, its riders, and the organization.

Ajo led his team Ajo Motorsport in Grand Prix racing for over two decades. His partnership with KTM began in 2012 when his team secured KTM's first Moto3 world title with the RC4. Under the Finn's leadership, Red Bull KTM Ajo claimed two more Moto3 championships in 2016 with Binder and in 2021 with Acosta, while serving as a key stepping stone for talent emerging from the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup.

In 2017, the 56-year-old took the next step by extending Red Bull KTM's presence into Moto2. Subsequently, three of his riders from the intermediate class progressed to MotoGP. Ajo's successful title-winning alumni include Johann Zarco and Augusto Fernandez, plus WorldSBK frontrunner Remy Gardner. Even with his new responsibilities, the Red Bull KTM Ajo team will maintain a similar structure in Moto3 and Moto2, continuing its commitment to nurturing some of the most promising talents within the KTM GP Academy.

Commenting on the new signing, KTM motorsports director Pit Beirer told MotoGP:

“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.”

Expressing gratitude and emphasizing that KTM needs to capitalize on its strengths to build a better package, Ajo added:

“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.”