This time last year, Cornelius Tøndel was preparing for the MX2 World Championship after inking a deal with the SM Action KTM team which is a very strong team based in Italy. At the start of the season, Tøndel was battling for top ten results in the competitive MX2 World Championship before having health issues.
The health issues saw him return home to Norway but it turned out that was the end of his time with the SM Action KTM team in what was a short stay. When the Norwegian made his return to racing, it was a new challenge for Tøndel as he secured a fill in ride with JWR Honda to race MXGP after the Swedish based team parted ways with Hardi Roosiorg.
It meant that Tøndel was able to get some MXGP World Championship experience and it was even thought he’d be remaining with the JWR Honda team for the 2024 season but that won’t be the case. JWR Honda are going to downscale and only run one rider next year with Alvin Ostlund remaining with the team – he’ll only contest European rounds of MXGP.
As for Tøndel, we believe he will sign with Schmicker KTM Racing team – a German based team who only started in 2023 but as previously reported want to take things to the next level for 2024 and run MXGP riders.
As well as Tøndel, Schmicker KTM are expected to run Adam Sterry in MXGP with Emil Weckman in the MX2 World Championship which is a pretty strong rider line up. The team are also expected to be present in WMX with the talented Lynn Valk.