MURRIETA, Calif. – A returning four-rider Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team will feature Chase Sexton and Aaron Plessinger in the 450 Class alongside 250 Class duo Tom Vialle and Julien Beaumer in the 2025 SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX), inclusive of the AMA Supercross, Pro Motocross and SMX Finals series.

Equipped with the KTM 450 SX-F FACTORY EDITION, the 31-round marathon will see 25-year-old Sexton out to reclaim the 450SX title that he earned in 2023, before he aims to defend his 450MX championship outdoors, and then will target a first-career 450SMX crown in the post-season. With a full season with Red Bull KTM complete, the pair are in a strong position to build upon their success together into the new year.

Chase Sexton: “We’re getting close to the season now and I had a good off-season, took around five weeks off of the bike, so I feel refreshed and we’ve made a lot of progress – compared to last year I’m in a much better spot for 2025. The goal this season is to win more races than last year, so I feel good, and I’m ready to start the season.”

Alongside Sexton, Plessinger, 28, is entering his fourth term with Red Bull KTM and is coming off the strongest season of his career in winning a Supercross Main Event in San Diego. ‘The Cowboy’ finished third overall in Pro Motocross, before racing to P4 at the conclusion of the SMX season. Those results mean that Plessinger will enter Anaheim 1 with confidence on his side and with even larger targets to achieve.

Aaron Plessinger: “I’m super-stoked for the 2025 season! I’m ready to start where we left off in Supercross last year, where I won my first Main Event, and I only think we’re going to get better this year. The bike’s good, I’m feeling strong both physically and mentally, so I’m ready to show these guys that I’m here to stick around and that it ain’t no game. I’m ready to see the fans and have a good time doing it!”

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s 250 line-up will once again be headlined by the exciting combination of 24-year-old Vialle – the reigning 250SX East Champion – and talented young American prospect Beaumer, each competing aboard the KTM 250 SX-F FACTORY EDITION.

Already a two-time MX2 World Champion prior to his arrival in the United States, French standout Vialle will enter 2025 in search of a second 250SX title, while also firmly targeting his maiden American outdoor championship in 250MX. The Red Bull KTM rider placed runner-up in both Pro Motocross and SMX this year, showcasing his capabilities across the board during his second year being based in the U.S.

Tom Vialle: “Everything has been going good this off-season, I was able to win the Paris Supercross, and we have done a lot of testing with the team already. I’m really happy with the bike, the suspension, and also, we have some engine upgrades, so everything so far is working good together. I’m going into my third year of Supercross and was able to win the 250SX East Championship this year, and now I am working hard to try and defend it in 2025. I’m really happy to win my first title indoors and the goal is to win another one next season. It’s a little bit of extra pressure, but I wouldn’t say a lot.”

At 18 years of age, Beaumer is preparing to enter his second full season of professional competition after debuting with Red Bull KTM one year ago. He finished as Rookie of the Year in both 250SX and 250MX, before going on to capture a breakout 250SMX podium result during the SMX Playoffs. Added experience will be instrumental for ‘JuJu’ when the racing commences next season.

Julien Beaumer: “The off-season’s been going really good for me, I’m excited to get going, and the goal this year is to win. I’m in a spot right now where I’m confident that I have the fitness and speed to do that, because I’ve been feeling good on the bike and we’ve made a lot of progress. Last year I had speed, but I made quite a few rookie mistakes, so I have been learning to eliminate those and I’m confident that this upcoming season will be a lot better for me.” 

Ian Harrison, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “We’ve had a good off-season to prepare so far, and we are ready to start our second year with Chase, so hopefully we can expand on our success and get even better with him for 2025. Aaron had his best season ever this past year, and the plan is to improve on that too. Tom is the defending champion in 250SX East, it will be great to see the number 1 on our bike when the Eastern Region begins. Julien is going into his second season with us, so we are hoping that after a strong pre-season he will be in a position to really shine also. It’s always an exciting time leading up to Anaheim 1 and we are ready for the challenge ahead.”

The first African rider to ever win the World Rally Raid Championship

Hero’s Botswana rider Ross Branch, who is also a triple former South African Cross Country racing champion, wrapped up his World title with a fine third place in the Moroccan Rally this last month.

Congratulations go to Hero’s Ross Branch on becoming the first African rider to ever win the World Rally Raid Championship, on a newcomer manufacturer Hero to Rally Raid racing who have taken the world by surprise to achieve this incredible success in such brief period against all odds from leading manufacturers.

Hero’s Ross Branch commenced his 2024 World Championship campaign with a brilliant second place at the Dakar Rally in January. He repeated the feat with second in the Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge a month later, as he moved into the lead of a championship he would not lose, backing that up with fifth place in both Portugal in April and in Argentina in June.

This was enough to ensure that Ross needed only to finish in Morocco to take the title in the 2500 km Rallye Du Maroc, made even tougher by unseasonal rains. That was never enough to stop Ross from riding his Hero home with a fine third overall to wrap the title up with his third podium, and fifth top five finish in five 2024 starts.

Hero’s World Champion Ross Branch will now focus on Dakar 2025, where the objective simply must be to go one better on his second place this year. The World Championship also visits South Africa for the first time in 2025, when local fans will get the chance to support their Rally Raid heroes firsthand at the third round South African Safari Rally at Sun City from 18 to 21 May 2025. The new season commences at Dakar ‘25 on 3 January.

Pata Prometeon Yamaha and its riders Jonathan Rea and Andrea Locatelli took to the track for the final time in 2024, finishing off two days of WorldSBK winter testing at Circuito de Jerez in warm, sunny conditions today. 

Stepping into his new role, Crew Chief Oriol “Uri” Pallares led the #65 side for the first time with the team welcoming highly-experienced technician Gregory Rebeyrat. Rea finished the test with a fastest lap time of 1'38.452, less than one tenth from the top of the timing sheet. 

While a crash at Turn 7 before lunch slightly restricted running for Locatelli today, the #55 side was able to make positive progress on Day 1 with 77 laps and continue to working through the test programme later this afternoon. 

Across a combined total of 241 laps, the focus was on a combination of chassis and electronics strategy improvements while simultaneously fine-tuning the individual R1 WorldSBK set-up for both Rea and Locatelli. 

The next development test for Yamaha’s engineers and Pata Prometeon Yamaha will take place on 22-23 January, returning to Jerez once again before two further days at Portimao before the 2025 FIM Superbike World Championship opening round at Phillip Island, Australia.

Jonathan Rea – 1'38.452

“I’m satisfied with the work that we’ve done over these two days! In the end, we have a lot of items to try this winter but during this test in particular it was important to work on my feeling with the R1 and regain some confidence in areas that I struggled with a bit this year. We focused on the front end of the bike, being able to stop and be more aggressive flicking the bike to the apex. Working with Uri as my Crew Chief for the first time was nice, the vibe in the team is good and he has slotted right in – so we were able to get to work quickly. We tried some different electronic items and fine-tuned our base set-up – the start point when we arrived was good so we were able to move through the programme efficiently. I’m happy because we were able to be fast on the Q tyre, race tyres and deliver consistency in the lap times, building my feeling again. Clocking off now for the winter, we’ll be back in January to get really into the meat of the test plan. I’d like to wish everyone a happy holiday period and say a massive thanks to the whole team and Yamaha – plus a warm welcome to my new mechanic Gregory Rebeyrat and “chapeau” to Uri for a great first 2025 test.”

Andrea Locatelli – 1'39.508

“The rhythm with the race tyre was good – it was a shame to have such a big crash this morning on the second day and miss some of the test programme. But, now we are looking forward and waiting for January so I can ride on my R1 again. We have time to analyse the data from both days and make another upgrade to prepare the bike for four more days of testing in January – which will be important to finalise everything ready for the season. We did 72 laps yesterday and in general for the first day I was happy, immediately with a good pace even though we were not in search of a fast lap time. It is important after a long time I have been with Yamaha that we push to the maximum, no matter what the condition. If we can be fast immediately it can be a big advantage for us both in testing and during the race weekends, in this area I have improved a lot. It is a step-by-step process overall in testing, we stay positive and I always believe that we can make a difference in all the areas where we work. Thank you to the team and Yamaha, and I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!”

Riccardo Tisci – Yamaha Motor Europe Road Racing Technical Manager:

“These two days of testing at Jerez were very interesting for the Yamaha WorldSBK project – we found some positives and a few areas where we have to continue to work on refining the details, but it was very useful because we have a clear direction for the next steps in development. We followed our test plan working on mainly chassis and electronics improvements, also towards making steps forward ahead of our next tests in January, in parallel with ongoing R1 WorldSBK set-up refinements and general rider preparation for the first race. Now, we have a month and a half to thoroughly check all the data collected during this test to confirm the next evolution of our bike specification ready for the 2025 season.”

The future met the present as the 2025 MotoGP line-ups for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing and Red Bull KTM Tech3 took to a sunny Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for final testing duties in 2024 and for the first steps towards next season.

Brad Binder was joined by Pedro Acosta and overseen by new Team Manager Aki Ajo at Red Bull KTM Factory Racing, while the Red Bull KTM Tech3 crew welcomed riders Enea Bastianini and Maverick Viñales for their initial laps with the KTM RC16.

The Catalan layout provided near perfect testing conditions with decent temperatures, blues skies and little wind for the first acclimatization outing ahead of the winter break and with a view to the workload for the 2025 championship. The teams and riders only had Monday free from riding in the wake of the Solidarity Grand Prix of Barcelona but the technical staff were busy changing parts, components and graphics for the session that lasted from 10-17.00.

Binder and Acosta totaled 134 laps with the South African clocking the 6th best effort. 0.7 from the top, and the Spaniard was 9th. They tried electronics settings and aerodynamic parts as well as other refinements. Viñales shone in 12th after lapping 74 times while Bastianini managed 55 and was 16th fastest as they began the adaption process to maximize the big potential of the KTM RC16. 

The race teams can now lower the pace but the development cycle continues. MotoGP will officially get quick again at the Sepang International Circuit on 5-7 February.

Brad Binder, 6th: “We had a productive test plan and got through all of it. No mishaps and everything worked well. The main goal was to get as much information as we could and I think we got the mission accomplished. I think a lot of what we tried today is just the beginning to try and push the project forward for next season.”

Pedro Acosta, 9th: “Happy because we had a solid day without any issues. We tried a lot of things and that didn’t leave me much time for a time-attack. I had new fairings with some good improvements and a new seat section for more comfort and stability. A change of team for me and a lot to look forward to when we go again in Malaysia.”

The final 2024 fixture of MotoGP circulated the cool climes of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the second time this season as the Solidarity Grand Prix of Barcelona replaced the cancelled Valencian round and Red Bull KTM Factory Racing sped into action for the last time this year. Brad Binder steered the KTM RC16 to a decent comeback with 9th while Jack Miller rode to 19th.

Catalan sunshine helped raise late autumn temperatures at the Barcelona race circuit. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing confronted the Solidarity GP of Barcelona knowing that tire choice and managing tire wear would be key to peak performance for the 12-lap Sprint. On Friday Brad Binder and Jack Miller ranked 11th and 12th after Practice, both missing out on Q2 by two hundredths of a second. Jack was 0.001 of a second behind Brad!

Saturday’s qualifying dash was an exercise in the search for grip. The teammates remained locked together as Binder was 18th on the grid and Miller 19th. The Sprint saw Brad make the brighter start from the sixth row and was in contention for the top ten by mid-race distance. He moved through to 9th in the closing stages and amidst a chaotic scrap in the third group. Miller was also making ground but then struggled with usable traction and rode home in 19th.

Brad Binder, 18th in qualification, 9th in the Sprint: “A day of two halves. Qualifying was tough and I just couldn’t get a lap together. I got a decent start today and pushed up to 9th which was OK but I wanted a lot more here at the last GP. It was difficult to manage the front and I knew it would be tough from 18th but my KTM is a rocket off the line and my team did a great job to get us in the best position possible.”

The 2024 MotoGP World Championship season came to a close after 20 rounds, 40 races and countless hours of work and with it, the end of the most iconic partnership in all of motorsport.

After 30 years, 15 World Championships, 183 Victories and 455 Podiums in the premier class of Grand Prix racing, the Solidarity GP marked the end of motorsport’s most iconic collaboration between Repsol and Honda HRC. Achieving immediate success in their very first race together with Mick Doohan back in 1995, the Repsol Honda Team has witnessed the likes of Doohan, Alex Criville, Valentino Rossi, Nicky Hayden, Casey Stoner and Marc Marquez lift World Championships with countless other riders clinching wins, poles and podium finishes.

The final race of the year brought with it a sombre mood as the paddock gathered together one last time to race for the people of Valencia. Determination remained as high as ever inside the Repsol Honda Team garage as both riders left pit lane just ahead of the last 24-laps of the year.

A content Luca Marini left the final race of his debut season as a Repsol Honda Team rider reflecting on the progress made over the course of the year. With this in mind, his 16th place finish was proof of this progress at a track which has always been a challenge for the Honda RC213V. Marini’s first year as a factory Honda rider can be marked proudly with his improvement and growth throughout the season.

Joan Mir was again impressive as the lights went out, charging ahead from 13th on the grid to throw himself into the midst of the top ten battle. Leading the chasing group and pushing his limits to close the distance to the riders ahead. Unfortunately, a fall while pushing hard under braking would end his race. He was unharmed in the crash.

Honda HRC would like to thank everyone from Repsol who has been involved in the project for their 30 years of hard work, support and collaboration. Honda HRC wishes Repsol all the best in their future business and sporting endeavours.

The last race of the year saw Stefan Bradl guide his 2024 Honda RC213V home in 22nd place, collecting valuable data ahead of the first pre-season test of 2025. Another season of hard and diligent work for the German and the Honda HRC Test Team, a point scoring ride during a complicated San Marino GP was a highlight and small rewards for their efforts.

“Today I feel has been my last race as a MotoGP rider and I am happy with everything that I have accomplished here in the World Championship. I have a lot of good memories and moments from all these years and it was nice to come full circle at the track I made my debut at. Thanks to everyone who has been part of this journey as I enter a new stage. I am eager to continue working with the Test Team to improve the performance of Honda and I’m looking forward to working closely with Aleix and Taka.”

Bezzecchi leaves the Team after 5 seasons together, 29 total podiums and 6 victories, including the first historic one in MotoGP in Argentina in 2023. 20th Michele Pirro who will be on track on Tuesday for the test

Barcelona (Spain), November 17th 2024 – A long hug and an emotional goodbye for Marco Bezzecchi who leaves the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team after 5 seasons together between Moto2 and the Top class. Marco says goodbye to the Team with the ninth place at the finishing line of the Solidarity GP, 20th instead Michele Pirro.

Starting from the ninth place on the grid, Marco is the protagonist of a good start and is immediately in the slipstream of the group fighting for the sixth position. Struggling with the consumption of the tire in the final, he reaches the Top10. He closes the season with 153 points, P12 in the general standings and his adventure with the Tavullia Team with 29 total podiums (14 in Moto2, 9 in MotoGP and 6 in Sprint), included 6 victories (3 in Moto2 and 3 in MotoGP).

P10 with 165 points for Fabio Di Giannantonio forced to skip the last two races on the calendar. In his place, riding the Desmosedici GP, Michele who crosses the finishing line in P20 after starting from the 22nd place on the grid. He will be on track for the official test on Tuesday with the GP25.

Promising French youngster Marc-Antoine Rossi will wear Red Bull KTM Factory Racing colors in 2025 and is set to steer a KTM 250 SX-F in the FIM MX2 World Championship.

The 18-year-old comes into the works outfit for what will be his second attempt at the MX2 series. He has spent much of his fledgling racing career on KTM SX machinery as he ascended through EMX European Championship competition.

Rossi made his Grand Prix debut at his home round in 2023 and impressed with 7th position overall at Villars sous Ecot. That same season Rossi confirmed 7th place in the EMX250 Championship despite missing three rounds. He shone with three moto wins among a total of six top three finishes. That form, style, speed and determination took him into MX2 for 2024 where he posted a sequence of top ten results in the first four Grands Prix of 2024 until a knee injury halted his progress.

#28 will come under the guidance of Joel Smets and the rest of the Red Bull KTM structure for the next step in his career path. He will follow in the footsteps of countrymen like Marvin Musquin, Jordi Tixier and Tom Vialle to try and excel in the orange.

The full Red Bull KTM Factory Racing line-up for 2025 in both MXGP and MX2 classes will consist of Jeffrey Herlings and Lucas Coenen riding the KTM 450 SX-F and then Andrea Adamo, Sacha Coenen, Simon Lägenfelder and Marc-Antoine Rossi with the KTM 250 SX-F.

Marc-Antoine Rossi: “I’m really happy to be back in orange and to join this crew. I’m already excited for 2025 and will be back on a bike soon and working with Joel. I’ll give everything I have for what will be a long year. I hope I can make the podium at some point next season.”

Joel Smets, Red Bull KTM Team Manager: “For many years France has had this reputation of bringing up young, skilled riders and Marc Antoine Rossi can be added to this list. He’s only 18 but has already shown great potential in EMX125 and EMX250. He then displayed bright flashes of speed and strength this year. Marc-Antoine is still so young and reminds me a lot of Tom Vialle. He not only has the same number but he has that same laidback attitude which camouflages a real ambition to work and to achieve. He is a good listener and is very keen to learn. He has time to grow and we don’t want to rush things. We believe he has a great future.”

Gabriel Marcelli will look to get the runner-up position in the indoor discipline, behind champion Toni Bou.

This Saturday the 2024 X-Trial World Championship season comes to an end in Pamplona, Repsol Honda Team rider Gabriel Marcelli is currently third in the overall standings and will compete for the runner-up position in the indoor series, whilst teammate Toni Bou has already been crowned champion.

Marcelli has 83 points to date, and will have to beat current second-placed rider Jaime Busto by at least 9 points, taking into account that the worst result for each rider will be discarded from their total. The Repsol Honda rider will try to get the win at the Navarra Arena to keep his chances of taking second place alive.

Bou earned his 36th world title in Andorra, two rounds ago. This weekend, the Repsol Honda rider will have the objective of getting back to winning ways, after the fourth place he took at the previous round in Tallinn (Estonia). Last season, Bou won on Pamplona’s debut as an X-Trial World Championship venue.

The action will start on Saturday from 6pm at the Navarra Arena.