NEIL MORRISON
Austrian manufacturers make intentions clear by signing Enea Bastianini and Maverick Viñales for 2025
INSIGHT
Our expert explains the MotoGP rider merry-go-round
Aprilia pulling off the shock of the season by snapping up Jorge Martin for 2025 was one thing, but within days KTM had pulled off their own coup, blindsiding the rider market in the process. The Austrian factory have convinced Enea Bastianini and Maverick Viñales to join Tech3 next year, next to Pedro Acosta and Brad Binder in the factory team. As KTM’s Motorsport Director Pit Beirer said: “Looking at the points standings, fourth (Bastianini), fifth (Acosta), sixth (Viñales) and seventh (Binder) are with us. I feel it will help us to go for our big target.”
MCN spoke to Beirer to get the inside line on the firm’s swoop on two of MotoGP’s biggest names.
Why speed was key
By Le Mans it was clear that Ducati had narrowed their search for Pecco Bagnaia’s 2025 teammate down to two riders. And that list didn’t include Bastianini. Not wanting a return to a satellite Ducati squad, Bastianini started looking elsewhere with manager Carlo Pernat pushing KTM hard to sign his man up.
Meanwhile, Aprilia CEO Massimo Rivola recently stated he wanted Viñales to be Aprilia’s new ‘Capitano’ next year. Yet MCN understands the Italian factory had coughed up the majority of their budget to lure Jorge Martin from Pramac. It’s likely Viñales would’ve had to have taken a pay cut, which wasn’t acceptable. While also linked to a satellite Ducati team, he expressed an interest to KTM boss Beirer after Mugello. “We sat down. We talked about the terms. And we agreedit was not even back and forth,” Beirer told MCN.
Why make that leap now?
Beirer had been hoping for more time to judge current riders Jack Miller and Augusto Fernandez, who are languishing in 16th and 17th in the standings. Yet once Martin departed Ducati for Aprilia, Bastianini and Viñales wanted clear answers. And quickly.
‘It’s racing so the strongest will survive’
The fact neither Miller nor Fernandez had scored points in Mugello led to Beirer to conclude they hadn’t shown enough potential. “I was hoping that Jack would show us that we could get him back on the level,” he said. “But being out of the points in Italy, that’s not where he should be.
“After Mugello the window to get these two boys on board was really, really short. Riders want to decide very quickly, but I think we did good homework and we were ready to move in the right moment.”
How they can ‘fix’ Viñales
This isn’t Viñales’ first experience with KTM, of course. The two parties forged a successful relationship in 2013, when the Catalan rider won the Moto3 World Championship using KTM hardware. Beirer ha
