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When KTM first entered the modern four stroke Road Racing Grand Prix era in 2012 at the beginning of the all new Moto3 class by running nine riders in the 250 cc single cylinder four stroke category, quite a few people in the GP paddock smiled. Because the Austrian manufacturer had a reputation of being an Offroad company after winning countless races and titles at the Dakar Rallye, the MX World Championship, US Supercross and in various Enduro series.
KTM never copied any rival concept in Moto3, but surprised some engineers by entering a 250 cc engine with a bore of 81 mm while Honda chose a conservative direction and went for a bore of 78 mm.
KTM won the Moto3 word championships in 2012 with Sandro Cortese (Red Bull Ajo KTM team) and in 2013 with Maverick Viñales (LaGlisse Calvo team) and accomplished 27 Moto3 GP wins in a row until the Catalunya GP in 2014.
By that time no other manufacturer had achieved such a long winning streak in any category of the World Championship since the start of this series in 1949.
After that debacle Honda copied the 1-in-2 exhaust system of KTM and Akraprovic and even the bore and stroke relationship of KTM.
After that conceptional change Honda triumphed in the Moto3 World Championship in 2014 with Alex Márquez and 2015 with Danny Kent.
In the meantime, the KTM FR 250GP also won the Moto3 world title with Brad Binder (2016), Albert Arenas (2020) and in 2022 with Pedro Acosta. Pierer Mobility also won the title in 2022 with Izan Guevara (GASGAS) and the Aspar team.
At the moment Pierer Mobility holds the top 6 positions of the overall standings in the riders´ championship plus the top 4 places of the constructor’s championship with CFMOTO, KTM, Husqvarna and GASGAS. Honda is down in 5th and last position – like in the MotoGP class. CFMOTO Aspar rider David Alonso arrives with a 58 points advantage on Ivan Ortola at the British Grand Prix next weekend.
The Moto3 class will also play an important role for the Austrian motorcycle manufacturer in the years to come. But Husqvarna will withdraw after 4 years for the second time from in the 250 cc single cylinder category, which they already entered in 2014 and 2015. GASGAS will also stop all involvements in the Moto3 class after four years as a part of a cost cutting program and a change of strategy regarding the three Pierer brands.
As usual the Pierer top management will announce more details regarding rider line ups at the Austrian GP (August 18th).
"First we wanted to put our MotoGP strategy in place for the future and decide about the riders for the Red Bull Factory team and the Red Bull Tech3-KTM Team", explained Pit Beirer, Motorsport director of KTM. "After the Mugello GP we started planning for the two smaller classes. The young Moto3 riders improve very quickly during the course of one season in one direction or another. That is why it makes sense to wait for a few more races. Hence, it does not make sense to sign agreements with them in May or June. We always wanted to give the teams and riders time until the Spielberg GP to display their abilities and performances."
The PIERER Mobility AG and Chinese motorcycle manufacturer CFMOTO (founded in 1989) strengthened its cooperation in July 2023 when the Chinese company increases its shareholding in Pierer Mobility to two percent. CFMOTOpromotes it’s brand in the Moto3 class by running KTM FR 250GP bikes. Most likely CFMOTO will clinch it’s first ever world title in 2024 with Colombian rider Alonso. CFMOTO first entered the GP scene in 2022 with PruestelGP and switched to Aspar after the 2023 season when the Chinese brand also entered the Moto2 class by running Kalex bikes for Jake Dixon and Izan Guevara.
Contrary to GASGAS and Husqvarna most likely CFMOTO will stay in the Road Racing World Championship with the Aspar team – in both Moto3 and Moto2 class. CFMOTO is not owned by Pierer Mobility and supplies a decent budget of around 1,5 million Euros for taking part in the World Championship.
It’s a well estimated guess if we trust Aspar Martinez to move Alonso up to the Moto2 class for 2025. Maybe Alonso will be replaced with a young rider from the JuniorGP class or the Red Bull Rookies Cup riders like Brian Uriarte, Alvaró Carpe, Valentino Perrone or Maximo Martinez. Also KTM Moto3 team bosses Aki Ajo and Hervé Poncharal (Tech3) will be looking at some Rookies Cup talents who would be signed by KTM Factory Racing. Starting this year there are new rules in place: The top 3 riders of the final RBRC rankings can move up to the Moto3 World Championship 2025 even if they are only 17 instead of the usual 18 years old.
Red Bull KTM Ajo team owner Aki Ajo is hoping for an improved rider line-up for 2025 because his current duo Antonio Rueda and Xabi Zurutuza only hold 9th and 22nd place in the standings 2024.
