Aki Ajo is set to take on the role of Red Bull KTM’s team manager, marking his first involvement in MotoGP. But what does the Austrian manufacturer expect the Finn to bring to the project?
Pit Beirer, KTM Motorsport Director, clarified to the championship’s official website that Ajo’s arrival doesn’t mean all existing gaps will magically disappear. Beirer acknowledged the foundational importance of improving the bike itself: ‘There is a base work that you have to do in the factory and produce a great machine, because you cannot fix a gap between the bikes over the weekend with your riders. So, don’t get me wrong: we don’t think that Aki is coming and all our problems are solved. But if we share the missing part, if we build a better machine at home and riders put everything that they can bring on the table in the right moment…’.
Riders Brad Binder and Pedro Acosta have already worked with Ajo in Moto2 and Moto3, and Beirer trusts in the new team manager’s organizational and managerial expertise:
– It’s not just about the riders, also planning with the team when it’s the right moment to go out for qualifying, when to put the lap time in – all this planning and organization. We feel Aki is maybe one of the strongest in the whole paddock. And he always helped to build champions for us. Both of these guys [Acosta and Binder] know him very well, and they are looking forward to work with him. He made them champions before, so we trust Aki to give us something extra in the fight for the last tenths we need.