Teenage prospect Niklas Ajo to ride a 250cc KTM bike in the new Moto3 class

Niklas Ajo

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This coming season Finland’s teenage motorcycling prospect Niklas Ajo will compete in the Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix series, the premier championship of motorcycle road racing, riding a KTM works bike.
      Ajo’s contract was made public in Helsinki on Monday.
      Ajo will compete in the new Moto3 class, which will be raced on bikes with single-cylinder 250cc 4-stroke engines.
     
Last year Ajo raced in the Road Racing World Championship Grand Prix in the 125cc class, which is now being replaced by the Moto3 as the smallest of the Grand Prix classes.
      Ajo will continue with the same German TT Motion Events Racing Team, in which he competed during his opening season in 2011.
      Ajo will compete a full season, which includes 17 races.
      The season starts on April 8th with an evening race in Qatar, and finishes off in Valencia, Spain, in November.
      The official tests by the various teams will begin in February.
      “I have never ridden a KTM before, but I believe and trust that it is a competitive bike”, Ajo, 17, commented on the Austrian-made machine.
     
Niklas Ajo’s father Aki Ajo will also transfer to the new Moto3 class. He is in charge of KTM’s factory team. The team’s racers are the German Grand Prix winner Sandro Cortese, Britain's Danny Kent, and Australian Arthur Sissis.
      In the 125cc class, Ajo’s team produced two World Champions.
      Aki Ajo has promised that, if needed, he can provide advice to his son, despite the fact that they represent rival teams.


Links:
  Grand Prix motorcycle racing (Wikipedia)
  Moto GP

Helsingin Sanomat