{"id":337562,"date":"2025-12-09T17:07:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T17:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/337562\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T17:07:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T17:07:07","slug":"ktm-could-not-have-expected-2025-motogp-form-rebound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/337562\/","title":{"rendered":"KTM \u201ccould not have expected\u201d 2025 MotoGP form rebound"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>KTM team manager Aki Ajo admits the brand \u201ccould not have expected\u201d to make the steps it did in the second half of the 2025 MotoGP season following a tough start.<\/p>\n<p>The Austrian manufacturer came into the 2025 campaign surrounded by uncertainty, as a major financial crisis threatened the future of the brand.<\/p>\n<p>When the race season started, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/teams\/red-bull-ktm-factory-racing\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">KTM<\/a> has seemingly taken a step back from where it was the previous year and struggled to replicate those results.<\/p>\n<p>It took until the Czech Grand Prix prior to the summer break for KTM to officially register a first podium.<\/p>\n<p>However, after this point, an updated bike led to KTM, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\/racer\/1040772\/pedro-acosta\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pedro Acosta<\/a> especially, becoming a consistent podium challenger in the second half of the season.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Reflecting on the year, Aki Ajo admits these results were hard to imagine during KTM\u2019s difficult start to the year.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf we look at results and points specifically, in the second half of the season, we have to be really happy,\u201d the team manager told the official <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crash.net\/motogp\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MotoGP<\/a> website.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are really close to the top there, and of course, with Pedro we have achieved so many podiums.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGenerally, with the project and with all the riders, we have made steps.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you think about the first moments, like Austin, maybe we could not have expected to make these steps.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut, MotoGP is really close now, the competition is so close.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, I would not focus too much on what happened around and too much about positions or everything.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think we need to focus on tne daily improvements in our project, and this is how we are measuring it, how we understand it, and how much by understanding we can improve.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBetter to keep the focus for that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>KTM\u2019s tough first half of the season prompted speculation that Acosta could leave the brand for 2026, with the Spaniard linked to Honda and admitting to conversations with VR46 Ducati.<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p> Article continues below ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe to our MotoGP Newsletter<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KTM team manager Aki Ajo admits the brand \u201ccould not have expected\u201d to make the steps it did&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":337563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[572],"tags":[64,63,806,805,803,804,10734,10670,85],"class_list":["post-337562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-motosport","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-motor","tag-motor-sports","tag-motosport","tag-motosports","tag-pedro-acosta","tag-red-bull-ktm-factory-racing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/337563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}