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.

Valerio Lata has joined Team HRC in a multi-year deal that’ll see him ride the Honda CRF250R alongside fellow Italian Ferruccio Zanchi in the MX2 class for 2025. The 19-year-old has had a few wildcard MX2 rides so far in his career – including a third place at the 2024 MXGP of Italy – but the 2025 campaign will mark his first full season in the class and one that is filled with potential.

As well as that podium effort in Maggiora, Lata also narrowly missed out on the 2024 EMX250 title, after taking a number of moto wins and overall victories. This was a continuation of an extremely impressive career to date, that saw him become 85cc World Champion in 2019, European 125cc Champion in 2021 and Italian Champion on two separate occasions. He has shown immense promise since he arrived in the GP paddock and it is a mark of intent from Team HRC that they were able to add him to their roster for 2025.

Last season, the MX2 programme was relaunched with Zanchi as the sole rider, and the rookie put in some excellent results that resulted in a top 10 championship standing. For this coming year, as the programme gathers pace, it was decided that second-rider was needed to continue that momentum and really show what the Honda CRF250R was capable of. Two riders, with a lot of potential, give Honda double the chances of success and show future riders that there is a real pathway to victory with the brand.

Now though, the present will see Lata and Zanchi in MX2, with five-time world champion Tim Gajser and Ruben Fernandez in the MXGP class, in what is the strongest squad of riders for Team HRC in a number of years. All four riders are currently training hard, getting themselves in shape for what should be a tough, 20-round season in the World Motocross Championships, which will get underway in Cordoba, Argentina on March 1^st.

Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Manuel Lettenbichler has won the 2024 FIM Hard Enduro World Championship at Hixpania Hard Enduro. Finishing third in Spain after an incredibly tough race in the rocky terrain close to Aguilar de Campoo, Mani secured the title on the final day of racing of the hard enduro season.

Heading into the seventh and final round of the season with a 17-point advantage in the championship standings, Mani knew the title was well within reach, but he would still have to give it his all over the two days of competition. Kicking off the action in Spain, the qualification round saw the KTM 300 EXC racer place fourth in a solid start to the weekend.

Starting in the second row for Sunday’s main race, which promised to be even more challenging due to the non-stop rain, Lettenbichler fought hard from the start and quickly climbed into second place. A costly crash mid-race injured his ankle, causing him to slip back into third, but he battled on to confidently maintain his position for the remainder of the race. Despite being in pain, and after close to two and a half hours of intense hard enduro action, the KTM star crossed the line to secure his sixth podium finish of the year and, with it, the 2024 Hard Enduro world title.

Lettenbichler has had a commanding year, opening his outdoor season with wins at the Valleys Hard Enduro and Red Bull Erzbergrodeo. Forced to sit out Serbia’s Xross Hard Enduro Rally due to a knee injury, the 26-year-old bounced back quickly to emerge victorious at rounds four, five, and six. Mani then fought through the pain barrier in Spain at Hixpania Hard Enduro to finish on the podium and clinch the 2024 Hard Enduro crown in style.

Manuel Lettenbichler: “I’m so stoked to have won the championship for the third time in a row! And to get another podium is pretty cool after such a tough race! I had a massive crash in the middle of the race which hurt, so I’m glad to have had such a strong finish anyway. It’s been an incredible season with plenty of ups and downs, but it has all paid off in the end!”

The first fully wet MotoGP race of the season produced an exciting 26-laps as battles up and down the field went to the wire, Luca Marini earns another 12th and Joan Mir makes it another double-point scoring finish in 15th.

Persistent rain across the day saw in the first wet MotoGP race in almost a year. Damp Warm Up saw Luca Marini thrive as he finished the 10-minute session in third, immediately looking strong in the tricky conditions of Buriram. The following hours saw the weather dance between parting clouds and further showers, before the weather settled and the race was declared wet.

With his confidence buoyed by his Warm Up result, Luca Marini was eager to make progress when the lights went out, immediately pursuing his teammate. A string of steady laps brought the #10 into the points and closer to his fellow Honda riders on the edge of the top ten. Tricky conditions caught out a number of riders, but Marini had everything under control as he climbed higher and higher. Crossing the line 12th place, the Italian equals his best result of the year and makes it three-point scoring finishes in a row. Both his development as a rider and development of the Honda RC213V machine are clear to see in his consistent improvements.

An impressive start from Joan Mir once again saw him charge towards the top ten from 19th and settle into an intense battle with the likes of Alex Marquez, Luca Marini, Johann Zarco and Augusto Fernandez. During the middle stage of the race, Mir’s feeling with the Honda RC213V began to change and he was unable to match the pace he had shown earlier. His situation was further complicated by contact with Marc Marquez which sent the #36 into the long lap zone. Even in face of the hardships, Mir walks away with another point.

The end of the 2024 MotoGP World Championship season is now in sight, just two more stops left on the calendar. Malaysia, the scene of the first test of the year, comes the very next week to round out the triple-header.

Luca Marini

“I enjoyed Warm Up and the race a lot. Conditions were super complicated and there were a lot of points where you had to risk crashing. Even in these tricky conditions I was quite fast, but with how slippery it was on track it was quite difficult to overtake so I was behind several riders for a bit too long. It was really fun to battle with Mir and Zarco for most of the race. A satisfactory race to save the weekend after a really challenging Saturday. Now two more chances to make some more progress before the next season starts.”

A damp Grand Prix of Thailand produced another memorable chapter of a long 2024 MotoGP championship campaign and the soaking circuit at Buriram was a platform for Jack Miller and Brad Binder to show off their bravery and skills with the KTM RC16 once more. Miller rode to 5th position after launching from 15th on the grid and was holding a podium place for most of the race while Binder ran with the leaders and was 6th.

Friday was hot and sunny, Saturday humid and cloudy and race day produced wet conditions for the eighteenth MotoGP dispute of the season at Buriram and the fifth-ever Grand Prix of Thailand. Circulating an immaculate 12-corner and 4.5km circuit populated with an 85,000 crowd, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing not only had their eye on the best possible results with the KTM RC16 but also the run to Malaysia and Spain to close the championship and open the first step to 2025 with the next official MotoGP test only three-and-a-half weeks away.

Binder and Miller started the 26-lap Grand Prix from the sides of the fifth row. Cutting through the gloom and the spray in the first two laps the South African had recovered ground to be roaming the top five while the Australian carved his way through and soon overtook his teammate to reach P4. Jack was then in the running for the podium and only a late attack by Pedro Acosta bumped him away from the Prosecco. Brad crossed the line in 6th and just three tenths behind.

Two rounds and a maximum of 74 points lay on the table for the rest of 2024. Binder is 5th in the standings. Miller is 14th and KTM sit 6th from 11 in the Teams contest while they rank 2nd in the Constructors championship.

MotoGP immediately moves on to another tropical climate and to the penultimate race of the year with the Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang International Circuit next weekend.

Jack Miller, 5th: “A good race. A long old one. The first laps were a bit hairy and the spray was hectic and so was the carnage. I found my way through to 4th and when Marc threw it down I was 3rd for a while. I was really suffering from the front end as I’d cooked the front tire and all my roll speed has pretty much gone. With three laps to go there was nothing left and I was being hunted. I gave it all I could to be on the podium but it wasn’t to be. It was a good race though and good pace. Consistent and perhaps coming through the pack cost us the most and put the most stress on the tire. I really wanted that podium.”

Brad Binder, 6th: “I knew it would be important to get to the front early because of the spray and that worked out pretty well. I felt really comfortable to thanks to my guys for the changes we made because I felt great in the wet. It was just a shame that I had squared the tire by the last four or five laps and was just spinning a lot. Hard to drive out of the corners. I wanted more but having started 13th and scoring 6th then that’s all we had today.”

Francesco Guidotti, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “The visibility in the first laps was crazy but both Jack and Brad recovered a lot of positions and we had 3rd until two laps from the end. We missed the podium by almost nothing. The conditions were hard, a mess, and to stay-up was a miracle. Congratulations to our guys for their job and we’ll look forward to Sepang.”

In a dramatic race, a great comeback by the rider of the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team, in the last race of his season. Forced to retire after a crash in the early stages of the GP Marco Bezzecchi.

Buriram (Thailand), October 27th 2024 - Fabio Di Giannantonio close his 2024 season with the Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team in the best possible way with the fourth place at the Thai GP, which took place today under the rain in Buriram. A dramatic race with an incredible comeback from the P13 and a podium just missed for a breath. Marco Bezzecchi instead crashed during the third lap.

Starting from the eighth box on the grid, Fabio is fighting in the group in the early stages of the race. Capable of imposing an excellent pace and exploiting all the potential of the Ducati Desmosedici GP in the final, he closes the gap and climbs the standings. Final duel with Acosta for the third step of the podium and the eighth position in the general classification with 165 points on the eve of the surgery on his left shoulder that will force him to miss the last two events of the Championship.

Sunday to forget for Marco, starting from P4 and on track again next Sunday at the Malaysian GP, the last race of this long trip outside Europe. 14th at the first corner and struggling in the first laps, in the attempt to recover, he crashes during the third lap when he was in P12. 

Aldi Satya Mahendra will go down in the history books as Indonesia’s first ever motorcycle road racing world champion, after the 18-year-old former bLU cRU rider clinched the 2024 FIM Supersport World Championship title in style during the final round of the series at the Circuito de Jerez, after a season of epic racing.

Mahendra is the second bLU cRU rider to be crowned champion in the WorldSSP300 class, with Alvaro Diaz also claiming the world title for Yamaha back in 2022.

Like Diaz before him, Mahendra’s championship winning race in Jerez brings to an end his WorldSSP300 career. The Indonesian youngster will benefit from Yamaha’s racing step-up program, designed to support the next generation of talent, and in 2025 Mahendra will contest the FIM Supersport World Championship aboard an R9 with a Yamaha supported team.

Mahendra’s career began at just nine years of age in the 2015 Indonesian national series, and by 2019 he had already moved onto the international racing scene, riding full time in the Asia Road Racing Championship. Despite losing a year of riding due to the pandemic in 2021, by the end of 2022 his success in Asia led him to the Yamaha FIM R3 bLU cRU World Cup.  

Once inside the bLU cRU programme in 2023, Mahendra quickly grew in confidence and competence, taking second place in only the third race of the year. By the third round at Misano World Circuit he had already taken his first victory, the beginning of a run of five wins that would see him battle for the title until the final race of 2023. 

During a gap in the FIM R3 bLU cRU World Cup calendar, Mahendra made his WorldSSP300 debut as a wildcard in Most and surprised the series regulars with an emphatic win in Race 2.

After narrowly missing out on the FIM R3 bLU cRU World Cup title at the final round of 2023, Mahendra made the switch to WorldSSP300 full time in 2024 and quickly made his mark. Second place at the first race in Barcelona was backed up with another second place and a win in Misano. He stepped onto the podium again in Most, and after missing out on a top three finish in Portimão, he bounced back with a double podium in Magny-Cours, where he was joined both times by his older brother, and WorldSSP rival, Galang Hendra Pratama.

With the 2024 WorldSSP300 title now in his sights, he had to rein in his usually all-out riding style to focus on consistent point scoring places. A podium at the penultimate round in Aragón set him up nicely for the final push in Jerez, a third place in Race 1 meant Mahendra went into the last race of the year with a 22-point lead. He kept calm and rode with precision to take sixth at the chequered flag, securing the title by 21 points.