After promoting several riders to MotoGP over the years, with the most recent success story being Pedro Acosta this season, KTM has changed its strategy. For 2025, the team has signed two experienced MotoGP riders (Enea Bastianini and Maverick Viñales) and placed them with the satellite Tech3 team, effectively creating a second factory team.
KTM Motorsport Director Pit Beirer acknowledged to GPOne.com that there are no KTM riders in Moto2 ready to make the leap: ‘It became clear after a few races in 2024 that we don’t have a Moto2 rider in any of our teams who is strong enough to join MotoGP in 2025’.
According to the German, to succeed in MotoGP, a rider must demonstrate a certain level of dominance in Moto2: ‘Recent years have shown that you need a truly dominant and consistent Moto2 rider if you want to promote them to the top category’.
Despite Moto2 bikes becoming technologically and performance-wise closer to MotoGP machines, Beirer believes the transition remains significant: ‘The jump from Moto2 to MotoGP is really brutal. It will take some time and work for us to find the next MotoGP talent within the KTM family. At the moment, none of our riders are ready to move up to the top category of racing. I don’t see any Moto2 rider in other teams who is ready for MotoGP either’.
This year, after nine rounds, the top-performing rider from KTM/Pierer Mobility-affiliated teams in Moto2 (Red Bull KTM Ajo, Liqui Moly Husqvarna Intact GP, and CFMoto Aspar) is Celestino Vietti, who is in ninth place and has yet to secure a podium finish.