Posted in PeopleKTM has a very proactive apprenticeship and training program to help youngsters, graduates and professionals find a vocation alongside their fondness for motorcycles, technology and design. The ‘Dual Academy’ is a bold platform that allows dedicated trainees to fast-track their way into a career and also sample KTM on another continent. How do we sign up?!
By Adam Wheeler
The new HQ in Murietta, California PC: KTM
There are nearly 300 days of total sunshine in southern
Posted in Racing, TravelThe major rest-day milestone has been reached! Both Toby Price and Kevin Benavides have overcome the first week perils of the notoriously tough Dakar Rally in Saudi aboard their KTM 450 RALLY machines to make it to the all-important mid-point of the race. Time to re-charge, re-focus and prepare for the second part of the battle.
By Fullgas Creative
The Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team – READY TO RACE DAKAR 2024! PC: RallyZone
This year’s Dakar Rally, arguably th
Posted in People, RacingBy Adam Wheeler
2023 was the fourth and final Moto3™ season for 20-year-old Turkish racer Deniz Öncü and a term where he won three Grands Prix – his first victories – often with explosive and captivating displays. Now on the threshold of a Moto2™ challenge with his Red Bull KTM Ajo team for 2024 we decided to get 1-1 on discussions with Deniz.
Deniz Öncü on the threshold of Moto2 PC: Polarity Photo
At the end of the 2018 MotoGP™ season the Ricardo Tormo Circuit
Three decades ago, KTM was spurred into action by one of its iconic athletes to offer customers the ultimate ‘taster’ of what it means to ride in orange. To this day ‘RIDE KTM’ is an enduring and popular scheme to provide unforgettable motorcycle experiences. How did it come to be?
By Adam Wheeler.
The idea of RIDE KTM was to create unforgettable moments for bike enthusiasts PC: KTM
Digging around KTM.com can sometimes deliver a few unexpected surprises. The website is not only a hub
Posted in People, RacingBy Adam Wheeler
There is the ability and there is the weight of numbers. In both ways new Moto2™ World Champion Pedro Acosta can sit peacefully with the billing of a ‘generational talent’. For those who have already seen the spectacular style in which the 19-year-old handles a race bike, here is the hard data behind #37’s surge to the top.
PC: Polarity Photo
Pedro Acosta’s sprint up the ladder of motorcycle Grand Prix racing is finally slowing down. Two champion
By FullGasCreative
Exceptional, emotional, and incredible are the main words that come to mind to describe the World Championship victories of Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Manuel Lettenbichler and Josep Garcia. As the reality of achieving their goals sets in, on what has been quite a journey through 2023 aboard completely new KTM EXC machinery, we take a look at their FIM Hard Enduro and FIM Enduro1 World titles.
Manuel Lettenbichler attacks the final Hixpania Hard Enduro climb on his w
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jack Miller is reaching the end of his first term with the KTM RC16 in MotoGP. The 28-year-old Australian has now ridden and taken podiums with three different bikes in the premier class. What exactly goes into shaping and creating a race ‘package’ that can top 360 kmph?
By Adam Wheeler
“You make it yours in terms of that first contact by feeling the bars, levers and pegs”, Jack Miller about customizing his race bike. PC: Rob Gray
Jack Miller provided a sh
KTM are competing on almost every continent with two wheels but they are also pretty busy with their four-wheel program. Marketing and Motorsport Manager and driver Laura Kraihamer tells us about throttling the KTM X-BOW Models and how technology is making racers faster and younger…
By Adam Wheeler
Laura Kraihamer has a double role: driver and Vice President Motorsports & Marketing for KTM Sportscars PC: Gruppe C Photography
Laura Kraihamer has been intrinsically linked with KTM’s
KTM’s motorsports activities have delivered almost 400 FIM titles. But what’s been the best motorcycle of the bunch? Step forward the Red Bull KTM 250 SX-F; a bike that recently bagged its 15th MX2 Motocross World Championship from the last 20 seasons. Here is some of the story…
By Adam Wheeler
This year’s MX2 world champion bike: the Red Bull KTM 250 SX-F PC: Ray Archer
20 seasons, 15 championships, 10 different riders, 1 team: the numbers for the KTM 250 SX-F speak for themselves. I
Posted in BikesIf you’re a die-hard KTM fan and have spent enough time doing an Instagram deep dive, you’ll no doubt have come across a few viral, custom-built motorcycles assigned to the handle @daan99999. We sat down with the undisputed King of KTM custom motorcycles and picked his brain.
A KTM 1290 RC8 built from scratch
Preferring to remain anonymous, you’ll not find much about the elusive @daan99999 on the web. His Instagram bio is equally cryptic, simply reading – The KTM builder! Du
It takes a racer to see a racer and tell a racer: Mika Kallio holds a unique role in the company’s MotoGP™ Grand Prix project so we asked him about his work and how it helps the pursuit of success…
„My job is more about support and letting them know what I see on the track…” – Mika Kallio PC: Polarity Photo
Mika Kallio is a winner of 16 Grands Prix and holder of almost 50 world championship race podium trophies (33 of those with KTM two-stroke technology). The 40-year-old Finn has been imp
In the midst of the mountains of Lesotho, in Southern Africa, the roar of KTM EXC excellence brought the area – famous for the ‘Roof of Africa’ Hard Enduro race – alive again, as KTM launched its revolutionary 2024 Enduro machines. 38 journalists from 22 countries traveled to the spectacular location, and as the dust has settled on that iconic trip, we at the KTM Blog delve into the new ‘REDEFINED’ era of KTM EXC.
The 2024 KTM EXC Launch was held in the same location as the Roof of Africa ra
Posted in People, RacingPedro Acosta is the name at the top of many stories or comments about the MotoGP silly season for 2024 and with good reason. Tap into some of the 19-year-old’s mindset that has carried him so far, so quickly.
“As a kid, I didn’t like being behind people…so I always looked for ways to pass other riders as quickly as I could.” ~ Pedro Acosta, 2023 PC: Polarity Photo
Aki Ajo has helped and developed a plethora of young motorcycle racing talent in his two-decade tenure
Posted in People, RacingFrom one rider to four, including three newcomers, fresh staff, different management and the second year of two new motorcycles: Red Bull KTM’s MXGP factory team has had an overhaul but is still achieving the same goals and standards. We asked how…
Harry Norton has taken over the role as the Technical Co-Ordinator of the Red Bull KTM MXGP Factory Racing team in 2023 PC @RayArcher
The ball keeps on rolling for KTM in MXGP. 2023 meant a renewed start in significant wa
Posted in People, RacingJens Hainbach, Head of Motorsports Road Racing, has a rewarding but delicate job as one of the main chess piece movers for the company and their multi-classes participation in MotoGP™. Seven years into the role, the 50-year-old tells us about the maturing talent scheme where the KTM roster is now bursting with potential.
Jens Hainbach, Head of Motorsports Road Racing, celebrating every podium PC @Polarity Photo
‘Silly season’ – the period in the racing calendar whe
Posted in Bikes, PeopleRed Bull extreme athlete Arūnas ‘Aras’ Gibieža joins an illustrious list of KTM Orange Bleeders, bringing more READY TO RACE spirit to the realm of stunt riding.
Stunt rider Arūnas ‘Aras’ Gibieža’s weapon of choice is the KTM 890 DUKE R PC @ArmandasKnežys
Lithuanian stunt rider Arūnas Gibieža is no rookie when it comes to adding silverware to his trophy cabinet – likewise, when it comes to adding world records to his already impressive resume. Having won several inte
30 YEARS OF KINI AND DAKAR
The Dakar Rally needs no introduction. It’s an incredible annual race of a million stories, and one that perhaps was ‘the making’ of KTM as we know it today. It is singly the most difficult and long, yet spectacular races you can take part in on a motorcycle, and one we all relish in following every January.
The Legends of The Dakar Exhibition is now open PC @FullGasCreative
But when did it all start for KTM? Roll back to the 1990s when an Austrian Motocross
Posted in RacingOn the 25th April, 2010, at 15 years of age, Jeffrey Herlings won the MX2 Grand Prix of the Netherlands at Valkenswaard. It was just his third GP and would be the first of nine victories in the Dutch Eurocircuit sand alone. Forward on to May 7th, 2023, in Madrid and round six of the current MXGP campaign, the 28-year-old climbed the top step of a world championship podium for the 102nd time and put his name at the top of the record books. Here is what he had to say about the feat
Posted in Racing2023 MotoGP is already deep into the next chapter of motorcycle aerodynamics as the quest for peak downforce, stability and speed continues at pace. How is KTM keeping in the game? We asked aerodynamic team leader, Dan Marshall, at the race workshop in Munderfing.
KTM known as innovative and technological leaders, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Brad Binder and Jack Miller achieve a milestone with a Double Podium for KTM in Jerez 2023. PC @PolarityPhoto
MotoGP machinery looks
Posted in RacingDigest five stats and facts about the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team as the 75th (and longest ever) MotoGP season is now straining the circuit radar traps!
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing’s Jack Miller and Brad Binder at their first MotoGP™ race weekend as teammates PC @PolarityPhoto
March to November, 18 countries, 21 rounds, 42 starts (thanks to the brand new ‘Sprints’ concept that represents the biggest shift in the near eight-decade history of the motorcycle Grand Prix wo
Posted in RacingHuge jumps and hard pack mean that AMA Supercross is a tough test of dirtbike suspension, but just how different is it to motocross and a conventional dirtbike setting? We pushed WP Suspension for some answers…
Cooper Webb aboard his KTM 450 SX-F at AMA Supercross Round 2 in Oakland putting his suspension to the test PC @ALIGN MEDIA
Push down the seat of any normal dirtbike and you’ll feel an encouraging bounce. The motorcycle is ready for bumps, whether in a local woodland
Posted in RacingOver ten years have passed since KTM last saw a reigning world champion change disciplines and hunt fresh glory as a ‘rookie’ in another series. We asked Tom Vialle about the professional and personal conversion from Grand Prix motocross to the stadia of American Supercross.
Tom Vialle at his first Supercross outing in Houston at the beginning of February 2023 PC @SimonCudby
On September 4th, 2022, Tom Vialle swept past title rival Jago Geerts at Afyon for the Grand Prix of
Posted in RacingOne of the fastest offroad motorcycle racers in the world talks about a year-long hiatus from MXGP due to injury and his impeding return to Grand Prix action.
15-year-old Jeffrey Herlings celebrating a podium-finish in his second GP in Mantova, Italy (2010) PC @KTM
Jeffrey Herlings is significant. Where do we start? The 28-year-old is a five-times world champion (three in MX2, two in MXGP and joint 4th on the all-time list), the most successful Dutch motocrosser in the hist
Posted in RacingWhat a race. After 44.5 hours of the toughest off-road race in the world, it came down to just 43 seconds. FORTY-THREE SECONDS! The closest finish in the recent history of the Dakar, and as KTM celebrates 30 years of competing at the event, a magical 1-2 from Kevin Benavides and Toby Price is a fitting tribute as they have brought the trophy back to the orange squad for the first time in four years.
Kevin Benavides celebrates his second Dakar victory PC @RallyZone
When we l
Posted in RacingThe first big motorsport event of the year is yet again throwing curveballs and creating drama as the world watches on with intrigue. As many conclude their holiday season, the 2023 Dakar Rally is winding its way across Saudi Arabia, and the scenery is as beautiful as it is brutal. While the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing team is preparing for the second half of the race, we have taken a look at the stats and the pictures from the last week of competition.
An incredible image of
