Red Bull KTM Ajo will bring in the current Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup Champion for their Moto3 line-up, as Fernandez joins the Moto2 project.

Red Bull KTM Ajo are excited to announce that Raul Fernandez will move up to Moto2 with the team in 2021, for his second season as part of the structure. The place left vacant in the Moto3 team will be taken by current Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup champion, Pedro Acosta, in his first experience as a World Championship rider. The reshuffle cements the Red Bull KTM Ajo line-up in both classes for next year. Talent and youth is the perfect combination for the KTM GP Academy in their quest to develop and train new talents.

Raul Fernandez has taken great strides forward in the second part of 2020. These results, coupled with his professional working approach and maturity, have earned him a place in the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 line-up. In the last four races, the Spaniard was on the podium three times, including achieving his first victory at the European Grand Prix. The 20-year-old also claimed five pole positions this campaign. Now Fernandez makes the switch to the intermediate class, to team up with the Australian talent, Remy Gardner, in 2021.

Pedro Acosta joins the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 family and will form a duo with one of the leading riders in the class, Jaume Masia. Despite his being only 16 years old, he is considered a promising talent in Spanish motorcycle racing, having just been crowned 2020 Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup champion. This season he also participated in the FIM Moto3 Junior World Championship, in which he finished third and fought for the title through to the final round. In 2021, Acosta will make his debut as a World Championship competitor, with the aim of continuing his professional and personal growth.

Aki Ajo – Team manager
“We are very happy to announce that Raul [Fernandez] will make the move up to Moto2 next season. Despite this having been a hectic year, he has been able to show a strong pace and rapid progress. We feel that now is a good time for him to start in Moto2. We know he has a great future ahead, although we have to give him time to adapt to the new class. We have established a really strong relationship with him and he is a very hard-working kid. The project with Raul is very important for Red Bull, KTM and our whole racing family.
We had good rookies on our project’s also in the past and having a new talent with us again is a very positive thing. We have met and talked to Pedro [Acosta] on several occasions and I’ve seen something in his way of working that resembles an old school style that I really liked. I feel that with him we have a great chance of success in the future, although we mustn’t forget that he will need time.”

Pit Beirer – KTM Motorsports Director
“We couldn’t be happier with the shape of our KTM GP Academy for 2021. We have an exciting mix, and we know that every single rider from Moto3, Moto2 and MotoGP has the possibility to deliver the results and racing stories for the company. They will have the best possible support from us to achieve their goals. I want to thank Aki again for the excellent structure he puts in place to help us make a strategy and a program. We have already shown that we are ready to bring riders all the way from the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup – and hopefully other feeder series like the Northern Talent – to the pinnacle of MotoGP and we are ready to excel, as demonstrated by the two victories and seven podiums between three riders so far in 2020. We’ll be looking for the KTM GP Academy to bring us more very soon.”

Raul Fernandez – Rider
“I want to thank the whole team, KTM, Red Bull and, above all, Aki for believing in me. It is an important step in my sporting career, and I am very happy to continue growing with this structure. It is a great opportunity that I know I will enjoy a lot, alongside some incredible people. This is a new stage, which brings me closer to every rider’s dream: to be in MotoGP. Red Bull KTM Ajo are the best team in Moto2, so this announcement is an honour for me. I only have words of thanks for them and for my family, who have always been by my side supporting me.”

Pedro Acosta – Rider
“It’s incredible to receive this opportunity from Red Bull, KTM and Ajo Motorsport. I want to thank all of them. For me, being on this team means being part of the best Moto3 team around. It will be my first year in the World Championship, so we will have to wait for the first race to see where we are and set realistic goals then. During the first half of the season, we will have to focus our efforts on adapting to the workload, as it will be different to what I am used to in the Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup and in the FIM CEV. I am going to do my best to make this learning process fruitful.”