KTM Motorsport Director Pit Beirer explains why the company is not looking for a direct successor for Fabiano Sterlacchini, who has left, in its MotoGP program with two teams
There has been far from positive news about KTM away from the racetrack in recent days. In view of the financial difficulties facing the Austrian motorcycle manufacturer, it has been decided to temporarily halt technical development of the KTM RC16 for the 2025 MotoGP season. In principle, however, the MotoGP program is to continue as planned.
The plans for the 2025 MotoGP season are in place. For the first time, KTM’s MotoGP program will feature two official factory teams: Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder in one team, Enea Bastianini and Maverick Vinales in the other. All four riders will receive the same technical specification of the KTM RC16. Visually, all four bikes will be orange.
The 2025 MotoGP season kicks off on the first weekend in March with the Thai Grand Prix in Buriram. It will be the first of 22 planned race weekends for the season (2025 MotoGP calendar). As far as KTM is concerned, not only the plans for the driver line-up are in place, but also for the technical line-up.
The position of KTM technical director – last held by Fabiano Sterlacchini until July 2024 – is to be discontinued. Sterlacchini has left KTM for Aprilia. According to KTM Motorsport Director Pit Beirer, they are not looking for a direct successor. The tasks will be divided between Sebastian Risse, the technical director at the race track, and Aki Ajo, the new KTM team manager.
“We have made a clean break here,” Beirer said on the sidelines of the 2024 season finale in Barcelona in the TV broadcast of MotoGP promoter Dorna Sports. ”With Fabiano, it was the case that he tried to do everything both from home and from the racetrack. At the racetrack, Sebastian, together with Aki, is now 100 percent responsible for our technical decisions.”
“At home,” the KTM Head of Motorsport draws a line to Mattighofen in Austria, ‘we have a very strong team, with Kurt Trieb responsible for the engines and Wolfgang Felber for the chassis. Then there’s Kevin Ranner, who heads up our test team program with Dani Pedrosa.’
According to Beirer, “all the names mentioned can almost be seen as a committee that meets after each race to decide on the next steps”. There should be no more one-man shows like the days of technical director Sterlacchini in KTM’s MotoGP program in the future.
“It’s about taking the next steps as a team. I firmly believe that in a MotoGP project, one person alone cannot decide everything,” says Beirer.
“There are so many aspects to consider. It takes a strong team to do this, and that’s what we’re working on. We’re not looking for a single technical director, but we believe that we have the right people on board to take the next step,” explains the KTM Head of Motorsport.