In fact, we have already gone beyond the rumor stage since it has already reached the official website motogp.com, and if it is not yet official, we can take it at face value: as previously announced, Francesco Guidotti will more than likely leave his position as team manager of the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team at the end of the current season, and his replacement would not be Spanish but Finnish, in the person of Aki Ajo.
Indeed, at one point the name of Dani Pedrosa seemed to be a poor fit for the situation. The KTM test rider with a prestigious past had already expressed internally his desire to limit his program to his role as a tester, henceforth more eager to do wildcards and even less to travel outside Europe. And even if Mike Leitnerthe former Mattighofen team manager, was indeed at Misano 2, so the attention of the bigwigs of the Austrian firm would have fallen on the altogether logical choice ofAki Ajothe one who has nothing more to prove in Moto3 and Moto2, and who has always dreamed of reaching MotoGP…
On the official website, the presenter Jack Appleyard thus declared: “It gave rise to some rumours, interesting reading, throughout last weekend at the second race at Misano. It seems that Francesco Guidotti, the KTM team boss for the last few years, is going to step down at the end of the year and that Aki Ajo is going to leave his Moto 3 and Moto 2 teams to take on the role of team manager of the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team in 2025. It raised my eyebrows. I think yours too, because it’s an interesting move. But when you think about it, it makes sense…”
What to Simon Crafarfor the moment still a journalist but soon Chairman of the FIM MotoGP Stewards Panel™, replied: “I raised my eyebrows when I heard that Francesco Guidotti was not going to be there anymore because he is so… he was brought in for his people skills. He is so good at it. But Aki Ajo is one of the most proven team principals in the paddock. Probably, sorry because I don’t usually say things like this, but he is probably my favourite person to talk to in the paddock. He is so balanced, experienced, fantastic, and I am really, on the one hand really sad to lose a good person and I hope he has so much experience that he will find something, but I can also understand that if you have the opportunity to have Aki Ajo, who better?”
MotoGP Aki Ajo
