Defending MX2 World Champion Tom Vialle will steer the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 250 SX-F in the 2022 FIM MX2 Motocross World Championship before entering the premier class of MXGP in 2023.
20-year-old Vialle claimed the 2020 MX2 title and has already won four Grands Prix in the current campaign. The Frenchman is rapidly climbing the standings after suffering a broken right hand earlier in the season and has risen from 11th to 4th position with seven rounds still to go.
“I’m so happy to continue with KTM,” Vialle said. “I want to give special thanks to Robert and Pit because they understand me and my wish to make another year in MX2 because I had some bad luck this season. I want another title. I feel so good with the team – Dirk, Joel, Valentina, Harry, the whole crew – and I wanted to carry on with them. It was an easy decision. KTM is my first team! They were the first people who believed in me, so I am very grateful.”
After entering the Red Bull KTM squad as an MX2 rookie in 2019, Vialle has made incredible progress and mixed his blossoming technique, fitness, racecraft and intelligence with outstanding results. He has now committed his future to the factory effort to bring his association with KTM up to more than half a decade.
As well as aiming for another MX2 crown in 2022 – where Vialle will also help develop the latest generation of the KTM 250 SX-F – #28 is also lined-up to make his debut with the KTM 450 SX-F in MXGP in 2023 where he will be given time and scope to learn the intricacies of the division in a deal that will stretch to the end of 2025.
Robert Jonas, VP of Motorsports Offroad said, “When Tom came into the Red Bull KTM team he was given the opportunity to show what he could do and he worked hard, listened, learned and delivered. I think he is a shining example to any youngster wanting to follow the same path. He has vindicated the belief that people like Joel Smets and Dirk Gruebel had in him and we’re delighted to watch how he’s progressed and become such a force with the KTM 250 SX-F. We’re also proud that we can continue the story together and it’s fantastic to create this longer-term project with Tom for both his last MX2 season and into MXGP. If we can continue as we have so far then we hope to have another special rider, team and machine combination coming up.”
