The Sartenais will now evolve within the KTM Factory team. After a knee injury this summer forfeiting him for the rest of the season, it’s a great victory and revenge for the young French driver.
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The announcement was made by the KTM Factory team on Wednesday, November 12, in the morning. Marc-Antoine Rossi, the French rider, originally from Sartène, joins the team for 2025 and will begin his second full season in MX2 motocross.
The 18-year-old island driver will develop under the direction of new manager Joel Smets. He joins the official Red Bull KTM team alongside Andrea Adamo and Jeffrey Herlings for this season.
“I’m really happy to find the orange jersey and join this team. I’m excited for what awaits me in 2025, I’m going to give it my all with Joel this year and I hope I can get on the podium next year“, confided the Corsican in the columns of the KTM website.
He knows how to listen and is very eager to learn. It has time to evolve and we don’t want to rush things. We think he has a great future.”
Joel Smet, Team Manager KTM Factory
For his part, Joel Smet, who has just taken charge of the team as manager, sees the arrival of this promising young man with a positive eye. “He is only 18 years old but has already shown great performances in EMX125 and EMX250 (…) Marc-Antoine is still so young and reminds me a lot of Tom Vialle. Not only does he wear the same number but he has the same relaxed attitude which hides a real ambition, that of working to succeed”we can read in the interview published on the KTM website.
Good news for the young Corsican as he has been quite discreet in recent months. In fact, last June, he injured his ligaments. He withdrew from the remainder of the season and had to undergo surgery in mid-June on his anterior cruciate ligament and external meniscus.
Now recovered, he will have to perform with his new KTM 250 SX-F and concentrate on the next stage which awaits him at the start of 2025: the opening event of the MXGP world motocross season in Argentina. . It will be in the city of Cordoba.
Before joining the prestigious KTM team, the rising motocross star was involved with Red Bull Gasgas. Last year, at the beginning of November, he signed a multi-year contract with this team. For a year, he therefore raced under the colors of Red Bull GasGas during the MX2 world championship, in 250cc, the precursor to the premier category, MXGP.
Aged 17 at the time, the Sartenais benefited from factory handlebars for his first participation at this level as an official rider. During the first round of the MX2 world championship, only reserved for riders under 23, he collected 32 points, which allowed him to occupy sixth place in the world ranking.
