From a press release issued by Red Bull KTM:

The Red Bull KTM Team has confirmed it will enter four riders in two classes, 250cc and 125cc, in the FIM Road Racing World Championship for 2005.

Australian rider Anthony West will spearhead the assault in the 250cc world championship on an all-new KTM machine.

For the 125cc world championship current Red Bull KTM rider Mika Kallio will be joined by Spanish teenager Julian Simon and Hungarian Gabor Talmacsi in an expanded three rider squad.

Both the 125cc and 250cc KTM racing projects will be supervised by Austrian engineer and race team manager Harald Bartol.

“KTM is delighted to have secured the services of Anthony West as we embark on the new 250cc project,” Bartol said.

“Anthony is a talented and committed rider who brings a great deal of experience to our team.

“The 250cc bike will be a development project for 2005 although in the second half of the season we hope to have a competitive bike on which Anthony can challenge the top riders.

“And 125cc world championship is a primary goal for next year.”

The expansion of the KTM road racing activities comes after a successful 2004 campaign when both Kallio and Australian rider Casey Stoner finished in the top ten of the 125cc championship and Stoner won the first GP for KTM .

In the 125cc championship KTM’s goal is to challenge for the world championship in 2005 with three fast and strong riders in Kallio, Simon and Talmacsi.

The KTM 125cc team now has a strong platform to work from as it enters its third season of GP competition after first racing the 125cc GP in the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka in 2003.

The KTM 250cc machine is a new bike currently being designed and developed by Bartol with track testing scheduled to commence prior to the start of the 2005 season in April.

The plan is for West to be racing the KTM 250 in the opening race of the season, the Spanish GP at Jerez.

West, 23, has emerged as one of the brightest talents in grand prix racing over the past two seasons riding outdated privateer bikes.

West won the Dutch TT at Assen in 2003 with a superb wet weather performance and during the 2004 season regularly finished ahead of rivals on full factory bikes.

After starting his career in junior dirt-track racing and winning two national titles in Australia, West made his grand prix debut as 125cc wild card in the Australian GP at Phillip Island in 1998.

He moved to the 250cc class in 1999 on a Honda was sixth in the 2000 world championship. West raced one season, 2001, as a privateer on a Honda v-twin in the 500cc world championship.

For the 125cc championship Finland’s Mika Kallio, 22, will be in his second full season with KTM in 2005. The Flying Finn made his grand prix debut in Germany in 2001.

With a best result of second place in this year’s Portuguese GP at Estoril Kallio has shown he has the talent and experience to be a title contender in 2005.

The new faces in the 125cc KTM team are Simon and Talmacsi.

Simon is a 17 year old Spaniard who broke through for his first front row qualifying performance in the Czech GP at Brno this year. His best race result was a sixth place finish in the Malaysian GP at Sepang.

Talmacsi, 23 from Budapest, made his grand prix debut at Brno in 2000 and brings four seasons of GP experience to the KTM team.


Editorial Note: Stoner was originally slated to ride KTM’s new 250cc machine in an August 24 press release.