Antonio Cairoli has had an amazing time at KTM. After making the switch from Yamaha to KTM for the 2010 season he never looked back doing amazing things for the brand. The nine times world champion is currently the team manager for the Red Bull KTM team.
As everything in life all good things come to an end and we heard BIG news last week that there things happening behind the scenes at Ducati involving Cairoli. Credit to MXBars for breaking the news first.
Something BIG is in the works at Ducati in the MX world 👀💣 #mxgp
— Gatedrop (@GateDropMx) September 27, 2023
We believe that Cairoli will head to Ducati to start working in 2024 in what will be a new challenge for the Italian after being at KTM for thirteen years. The new MX brand who are currently working on the bike in secret will also work with Maddii Racing who currently run Fantic but are expected to make the change.
Cairoli is expected to have a management and testing role working alongside Alessandro Lupino who he was team mates with at the start of their GP career at De Carli Yamaha – the pair will now work on the Ducati project together and what an exciting project it is.
For 2024, they are expected to do some MXGP rounds depending on the bike development as well as the Italian Championship with Lupino, most likely. But for 2025 the plan is to be all systems go for the MXGP World Championship.
As for Factory KTM, they will be left to look for a new team manager but they have many good people part of their existing setup so could appoint within – it would certainly make sense.
UPDATE: KTM have now revealed they’ve parted ways with Cairoli, more here.
Image: Nigel McKinstry