The Finnish team owner Aki Ajo and his pilots have captured no fewer than six world titles, 96 GP victories and a total of 178 podium places since 2003. In 2016, two world titles were won in one year – with Binder and Zarco
The famous Red Bull-KTM-Ajo team celebrated five GP successes in 2020 with Raúl Fernandez Moto3 / two wins) as well as Tetsuta Nagashima (Moto2 / one win) and Jorge Martin (Moto2 / two wins), plus eight further podiums. In the coming season, two new milestones could be achieved in the world championship – the 100th win and the 200th podium. Aki Ajo’s Finnish racing team has already won four world titles in the smallest class (125 cc / Moto3). 2008 with Mike di Meglio (on Derbi 125), 2010 with Marc Márquez (on Derbi 125), 2012 with Sandro Cortese (on KTM-Moto3) and 2016 with Brad Binder (on KTM-Moto3).
Not many teams in the paddock can look back on such a record.
Ajo’s successes began at the unforgettable 2003 Australian GP – two years after the team entered the 125cc World Championship. At that time it started to rain before the race in Eastern Creek, the drivers Masao Azuma and Andrea Ballerini allowed themselves to be persuaded by Ajo in the rain to fit a rain front tire from the 250 cc class on the 125cc rear. Azuma drove this Bridgestone tire for the first time during the inspection lap, Ballerini only got it on the grid.
And then Ballerini celebrated a double victory with Azuma.
Ajo Motorsport has been involved in the 125, Moto3, Moto2 and MotoE World Championship classes and has achieved Suege and podium places in all four categories. There are no fewer than 96 GP victories among the 198 podium places!
Johann Zarco brought 15 of them to Kalex in 2015 and 2016 in the Moto2 class. He also took two Moto2 World Championship titles for Ajo Motorsport.
The 2015 season was the most successful for Ajo – ttal achieved 27 podium places.
In three years, Zarco secured a total of 35 podium places for Ajo, as he was already racing for Ajo in the 125 cc World Championship in 2011 – and was runner-up in the world championship.
The 2016 season was also a highlight: Binder and Zarco won two titles in one year for Ajo Motorsport. In the Moto3 World Championship, Ajo has not only won two titles but also three runner-up world titles – with Salom in 2013, Miller in 2014 and Oliveira in 2015.
In the Moto3 class, the Red Bull Ajo-KTM team has achieved 82 podiums since 2012, 36 of which were victories.
KTM took part in the Moto2 World Championship as a chassis manufacturer from 2017 to 2019. Oliveira managed three wins in the Ajo team in the first season, in the second year 2018 he just missed the world title against Pecco Bagnaia with 297 to 306 points. The Portuguese, who celebrated his first two MotoGP victories in 2020, took home three Moto2 triumphs and nine more podium places in 2018. In the Moto3 World Championship in 2015, Oliveira only lost the title by 6 points against Danny Kent (Honda).
Brad Binder won three times with the Moto2-KTM in 2018, five times in 2019, he only missed the title against Alex Márquez by 4 points last year.
Ajo’s results in the Moto3 World Championship were meager for a while after winning the title with Binder in 2016. Niccolò Antonelli only managed one podium in 2017, Bo Bendsneyder none.
In 2018, wildcard driver Can Öncü surprised at the age of 15 with a victory in his GP debut in Valencia. But in the entire 2019 season, the Turk only managed eight points. In 2018, Ajo Motorsport only entered the Moto3 World Championship with a one-driver team – with Darryn Binder, after all, he achieved a podium.
“Our team has won more than 50 percent of KTM’s 110 GP victories,” says Ajo Ajo.
For 2021 he is promoting Rául Fernandez, fourth in the Moto3 World Championship, to the Moto2 class, where he will fight for success with the new acquisition Remy Gardner. For the Moto3 World Championship, he lured Jaume Masia away from Honda and hired 16-year-old super talent Pedro Acosta (overall winner of the Red Bull Rookies Cup 2020).
Aki Ajo’s job with the KTM MotoGP Academy is to breed and train MotoGP supplies for the Austrian motorcycle factory. The Finn has already done a great job with MotoGP winners Binder and Oliveira.
– .
