KTM has widened and solidified their KTM MXGP Academy: the structure to help promising teenage racing talent make their way into MXGP and the FIM Motocross World Championship. The factory has confirmed agreements for the 2025 season and coming years with Racestore KTM Factory Rookies, Gabriel SS24 KTM Factory Juniors and Van Venrooy KTM Racing for the tiers of EMX European Championship competition and the route into Grand Prix.
The current 2024 projects with Racestore KTM Factory Rookies and the Gabriel SS24 KTM squads have been making strong headway.
Under the watch of former KTM Factory rider Thomas Traversini in the Racestore KTM Factory Rookies set-up, Dutch youngster Gyan Doensen is leading the EMX125 Championship with his KTM 125 SX. He has won 6 motos of 20 this season and with 9 top three moto results. Only one round (two motos) remains while the crew have also bagged domestic titles in Italy and the Netherlands. In 2025 Racestore KTM Factory Rookies will continue their mission in EMX125 and with Nicolo Alvisi (their current second rider and scorer of three top three results so far in 2024, including his first overall triumph at the Swiss Grand Prix) and Aron Katona (a young Hungarian who is 8th in the 2024 EMX125 contest) on the roster.
In EMX250 – the next step on the European Championship ladder – ex-Red Bull KTM Factory Racing rider Shaun Simpson has been guiding another Dutch talent, Cas Valk, to a guaranteed top three 2024 standings. Cas has taken his KTM 250 SX-F to 5 checkered flags from the 16 run and a total of 11 top three classifications. He is 3rd, a slender 10 points from P2 with an outside shot of the title with one date on the calendar to go. Gabriel SS24 KTM will become the official Factory Juniors squad and will oversee Gyan Doensen’s graduation to EMX250 with the KTM 250 SX-F and will welcome Maximilian Werner into the outfit (the German is currently 7th in the EMX250 rankings).
Title contention and evolution of the riders’ skills and race mentalities have been clear indicators that the program has been functioning for 2024 and KTM will now add Van Venrooy KTM Racing to the organization for next year for the leap into MX2. Van Venrooy KTM Racing will provide Cas Valk with his first full-time taste of FIM MX2 World Championship competition with factory-supported KTM 250 SX-F equipment.
Thomas Traversini, Team Manager, Racestore KTM Factory Rookies: “Our first season has been very positive. We have been fighting for championships in every series we have entered while it has been a learning year for Nicolo and he has developed well despite an injury. A lot of people are talking about him. We started the project last November and it has been non-stop. We are at a good level and I feel positive for the end of 2024 and for the coming year. Both Nicolo and Aron have shown good things. I think our facilities and the way we can help the riders mean we can look towards 2025 in a bright way.”
Shaun Simpson, Team Manager, Gabriel SS24 KTM Factory Juniors: “Over the last couple of years we have been trying to build up something successful and filtering through from the British Championship. This has led to Josh Gilbert racing the 2024 MXGP World Championship and then we’re also helping Cas Valk in EMX250. Our progress has really opened my eyes to the importance of EMX250 in the development of younger riders and in having a good team and structure in place so they can potentially pass into the KTM factory race structure. Being part of this journey is important for us as a team and I feel I can give my experience and expertise. It’s great to be a component of the factory Juniors program and I’d like to thank KTM and all the management who have placed trust in myself and Simon Gabriel to do that. As a small team from the UK it’s a dream for us, and we will do the very best we can for KTM, the riders and our sponsors. It’s been an exciting new challenge to focus on the EMX250 title and for 2025 we’ll hope to help the next riders – Gyan and Max – in the same way.”
Klaas Hattem, Team Manager, Van Venrooy KTM Racing Team: “First of all we would like to thank KTM for making our return to MXGP in 2025 possible. The plan and structured factory support they have offered really appeals to us and provides fantastic opportunities for the team to help young KTM riders to the next step in their career. The team together with KTM is READY TO RACE into the future.”
Robert Jonas, Vice President OFFROAD Racing: “For this year we took steps in establishing a proper pathway for motocross racing talent and the partners we chose have done a brilliant job, as we can see from the results and the progression of the riders in the popular European Championship pyramid. So, for 2025 it’s exciting to widen the project with the addition of Van Venrooy KTM Racing and also expand our objectives with Racestore KTM Factory Rookies and the establishment of Gabriel SS24 KTM Factory Juniors. This means that we can give our current contracted riders a strong route for our mutual goals but also lay out the ladder for the next crop who have a dream of one day racing in Grand Prix with Red Bull KTM Factory Racing. I’d like to thank all our partners and the work for 2025 will begin very soon.”
Words by KTM – Images by Ray Archer
