As part of cost-cutting measures, the Pierer Mobility Group has withdrawn the Husqvarna and GASGAS brands from the Motocross MXGP World Championship. Motorsports director Pit Beirer in an exclusive interview with SPEEDWEEK.com.
Those involved in KTM had to wait until December 20, 2024 when it officially started: The Austrian manufacturer will also be present with the factory teams in various championships in 2025. The head of restructuring Peter Vogl had previously confirmed that motorsport was an important part of the restructuring plan the company suffered from problems.
Motorsport director Pit Beirer had already set a course months in advance to cut costs and make KTM more attractive to investors and additional partners.
“Our partners and sponsors have helped us through some tough times in the last few weeks,” said the 52-year-old in an exclusive interview with SPEEDWEEK.com. “Not just a few, but several have increased the budget to secure the future of our racing department. This is a feeling of solidarity and camaraderie. It almost brings tears to your eyes when we realize how we stand with our partners. It is exciting that we have maintained a partnership for decades and have experienced high and down together. They are the basis for moving forward. We couldn’t do it alone under this pressure, I can say thank you.”
Beirer and his staff have developed a 100-point plan that will allow them to save money on high-level sport without compromising on motorcycle performance.
“We took action a long time ago,” explained the Baden native. “When the contract ended, it was easier to change things than this time of year, when contracts are everywhere. A very simple but very painful issue is that we have reduced our program worldwide to twelve runners, and each of them has two, three or four employees associated with it. The decision to break up individual racing teams or remove individual drivers from certain categories affected us primarily at the front line of the race, but many jobs were lost as a result. Behind the broken project there are always two trucks that are no longer available with other cars and cars. Then the materials that the drivers need are no longer available. Such reductions are tangible immediate measures.”
“We have also decided to no longer act as the main sponsor of the Hard Enduro World Championship,” added Beirer. “It has come to the point where we leave the trucks at home in various sports. If there is a second truck from Mattighofen, then he should take the material with him. There are different types of steps. What we wanted to protect to the end is that wherever we are, money can be used to develop motorcycles. We won 13 world championship titles this year in many different sports; This only works if you continue to develop more motorcycles. None of the games we play are easy. In racing and for our customers, Ready to Race means building a competitive motorcycle. That’s why our heart and soul and a large part of the budget goes into the product, into the motorcycle.”
The most surprising change in the sport of motocross: In 2025, the De Carli team in the world championship will move to the MXGP and MX2 classes with KTM instead of GASGAS and will work closely with the original KTM factory team. There is no longer a Husqvarna team in MXGP either.
“We have focused on KTM in the off-road sport,” says Beirer. “If we had three units in one sport, the KTM unit remains as big as it is, and the second truck is shared between GASGAS and Husqvarna or is completely removed. Some big reductions were made, which will now help us in the overall bill. This depends on the factors little things that turn single rooms into two rooms. If you go through all the little things, you’ll make a lot of money at the end of the day.”
Pierer Group 2025 MX factory operators:
World Cup:
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (Joel Smets)
MXGP – Jeffrey Herlings
MX2 – Andrea Adamo
MX2 – Marc-Antoine Rossi
Red Bull KTM Factory Racing (De Carli)
MXGP – Lucas Coenen
MX2 – Sacha Coenen
MX2 – Simon Längenfelder
Nestaan Factory RacingHusqvarna
MX2 – Kay de Wolf
MX2 – Liam Everts
United States:
Red Bull KTM Factory:
450: Chase Sexton, Aaron Plessinger
250: Tom Vialle, Julien Beaumer
Rockstar Husqvarna:
450: Malcolm Stewart
250: RJ Hampshire
Rockstar GASGAS:
450: Justin Barcia
250: Ryder DiFrancesco
250: Casey Cochran
