Hey folks, Happy New Year from me and everyone at Motorsport101! To celebrate bringing in 2025, I thought I’d kick off the season with another edition of Ask Dre. On this edition, I ripped up the rulebook and said you could ask me anything! On it, I talk more about KTM’s current financial struggles, the Marcus Rashford situation at Manchester United, and who were my Top 10 athletes of 2024. Enjoy!
With KTM not staying around beyond 2026 (that’s me being generous), where will their current riders go, and which manufacturer will take Tech3 as their satellite team? – Viandra
Okay, I’ve not had the chance to speak out about KTM’s current problems, so in case you missed it – KTM’s debt was much larger than anticipated around 2.9 BILLION euros. Long story short, they over-exerted themselves by producing too many bikes when the pandemic ended and thinking everyone’s extra disposable income was never going to end until a recession hit in 2022. Snapping up all those extra marques like MV Agusta didn’t help either. Now they have 120,000 spare bikes they will be unlikely to shift due to recalls and a new EU emissions standard that their current range doesn’t meet.
So KTM entered into insolvency, and while Austrian courts have approved the companies’ restructuring plan, they have two years to repay 30% of their debts back or else they could be liquidated entirely. 300 jobs are expected to be cut, and their MotoGP future has already come into doubt with development paused and a scare rumour last week they could pull out of the sport entirely, as it is something their creditors recommended, but KTM is determined to race at all costs, so here we are.
The obvious MotoGP angle here is, what happens to them. I worry about their competitive status. Their crediutors are pushing for them to quit the sport and they’ll likely need to sell. On track they’re not too bad, they can win races on a good day at the moment, but they risk slipping into purgatory with Aprilia close behind and potential fear of what Japan can do to make up the gaps.
From a rider’s perspective, Pedro Acosta is the grand prize. A 21-year-old hotshot who already has a pole position and a string of podium finishes, and if Ducati gets him, they have their star of the future more or less wrapped up. If Acosta has to bail, I don’t see him targeting anything else because no one else has a competitive package.
Maverick Vinales has ridden for half the paddock at this point, and I don’t know how he’d feel about a Honda if he’s ruling out a return anywhere (It’s not exactly like he left Aprilia or Yamaha on good terms), so he could be in trouble. Enea Bastianini was a solid Ducati rider at a bare minimum and if he’s prepared to be a Sattilite rider again, I could see anyone in Bologna’s camp taking him back, like Gresini or VR46.
As for Tech3, this is an interesting one, and I think it’s something Japan would take up. Aprilia has only just expanded to four bikes and Trackhouse was picking up the bill for it. Yamaha has already shown they’re prepared to spend (maybe even overspend), to try and get itself back into contention. And Honda, needs all the help they can get and given bike racing IS the spirit of the company, they will do anything needed to get back up the grid, and six bikes on the grid would help. It depends on what Tech3 wants too, but with KTM struggling, Aprilia still green and Ducati downscaling across the board, I feel Japan is the only option.
Who’s your favourite heel in pro wrestling, either today or all-time? – Narendtoro
Oh easy, 2009 Randy Orton. When Randy became the unhinged Apex Predator with his “Legacy” faction and took on Triple H and the company itself, it was brilliant television that felt real and personal. Orton in early ‘09 was such a bastard, such a naturally evil heel, but also so entertaining that it felt hard to genuinely boo him. That’s how you know you’re performing at a brilliant level. The kiss to Stephanie McMahon with Triple H handcuffed to the ring ropes. The threats to sue the company, the punt kicks to Trips and Vince, Shane McMahon trying to avenge his family, the brawl in their family home… It was all such good stuff. It completely petered out when John Cena got involved, but that was WWE writing staff in 2009 for you…
Aura.
The Marcus Rashford situation. Discuss – Joe MacMillian
Yeah… not nice is it?
I’ll say from the top, I think both parties need a divorce and I think that’s best for everyone. But man does it make me sad how we got here.
Marcus Rashford has been a Manchester United player for 20 years. He’s the ultimate feel-good story for what the club should be. An academy guy who got a chance under Louis van Gaal, shined against Arsenal and never looked back. He’s close to 300 appearances for the club and just shy of its Top 10 all-time scorers list. Cracked the England side too with 60 caps. Beyond that, he’s a national hero who’s done incredible work with FareShare trying to feed hungry children through the pandemic. He was everything against the negative stereotypes we portray footballers to be in this country, and yet… here we are.
There are fair questions to ask about his poor form over the last year and a half. But what about the running of the club and INEOS trying to reverse 20 years of poor ownership from the Glazer family? Half a dozen coaches, multiple GMs and Directors of Football have spunked money up the wall on transfers that haven’t worked, only recently addressing the fact we need a new Old Trafford, it goes on and on. And yet, for the last month, all the conversation has been pointed at Rashford, and not Ruben Anorim’s new tactics, or how the club’s going to tackle January, or even the quiet booting of Dan Ashcroft, it’s all on MR10. Rashford is a symptom of a much larger problem.
And before anyone starts playing the body language game, if you’ve spent years giving everything you have for the club to try and succeed, including playing through injuries and pain, only to be scapegoated for all of the club’s issues, would you want to give 100%? I’ve been there for jobs paying me far less than £325,000 a week and I couldn’t do it, so why should you expect someone else to do the same?
As much as I think we need to move from Sir Alex Ferguson, I miss his overall influence. There was always a sense of stability with his management that we don’t have now. He was everything from the director of football to the media department, to the manager and club ambassador. He wouldn’t be letting influencers with Podcast mics and video blogs get unprecedented access to the club and have shit leak into the press every month. He’d be protecting people like Kobbie Mainoo and Marcus Rashford from the toxicity. And yes, there’s bias, from the basic lack of empathy because of his paycheck, to the racial element that has always been there with building up black footballers and then tearing them down again. I haven’t forgotten what we did with Paul Pogba in his time with us, or how Raheem Sterling, the boy from my home borough of Brent was vilified despite being a future Premier League Hall of Famer.
And the worst part is, we as fans have become everything we thought we hated about other fanbases. They think United has a divine right to win because they’re United, and that should be the default, rather than admitting that the entire club needs a rebuild, from the squad to the rotten top-down management structure. Congratulations guys, you’re Liverpool pre-Jurgen Klopp.
The harsh reality is, that INEOS have to make some hard decisions, and he’s an unproductive player on £325,000 a week right now (And he’s not the only one). At 27, this is probably it for him, and because you’re jammed tight because of FFP, United being a shit-selling club and his exorbitant wages, it’s probably for the best he’s sold. But there are far, far bigger issues for this club that need addressing and it breaks my heart that this system destroyed one of our finest examples of what can happen when we DO get it right.
And to answer Daniel Montiero’s question about Anorim’s run so far: He’s been fine. I can see what he’s trying to do with his 3-4-3 wingback strategy, but it will take a good while to see if he gets to buy players that fit or mould our current squad to his game plan. Again, don’t envy him though, having to play politician and being immediately thrown into a competitive hornet’s nest. The fact he’s had FOUR training sessions with a full squad since joining should say it all.
Who are your Top 10 Sportspeople Of The Year? – Dom
Yikes. It’s always hard to value sports on a pound-for-pound basis, even harder in an Olympic Year when the pinnacle of many niche sports shows up.
I mentioned it in my SPOTY mentions last time, but three of the nominees for World Sports Star deserve a mention right away – Leon Marchand for being arguably France’s star of a home Olympics and winning four golds (including two in a day). Caitlyn Clark for the greatest rookie season in WNBA history and her transcendent impact on Women’s Sports in America. Mondo Duplantis for taking the Pole Vault World Record to an astonishing 6.26m and winning the Olympic Gold by AN ENTIRE FOOT. I’d also like to add two cyclists to that list – Remco Evenepoel for becoming the first man to do the Olympic Road Race/Time Trial double as well as taking third in the Tour De France, and Tadej Pogacar, who for me is #1 – Winning the TDF by over six minutes, winning the Giro D’Italia and the World Championship Road Race while attacking solo from 100km out. He’s a freak and that’s arguably the greatest year in road cycling history.
Add in Rodri, who was righty the Ballon D’Or winner for an incredible campaign with Man City and winning the European Championship with Spain as MVP, Carlos Alcaraz with his French Open/Wimbledon double (Sorry Jannik, the drug situation is sus), Max Verstappen for winning his fourth F1 world title, his second while NOT winning the Constructors’ title. The best cricketer in the world Jasprit Bumrah for taking 15 wickets in a T20 World Cup win for India (And averaging FIFTEEN in Test Cricket this year), and Shohei Ohtani for his first World Series with the LA Dodgers while winning his third MVP and his 50 Home Run, 55 Stolen Base campaign.
That feels like a pretty good ten. What say you, Internet?
Single most outlandish prediction for all the series you cover in 2025 – Galarian Mike
Let’s see here:
F1 – Charles Leclerc wins the Championship: With the bookies having both Lando Norris and Max Verstappen as around 2/1 favourites, Charles Leclerc feels alarmingly slept on here. As I said in my season review, I think he was better than Norris was last season, and while Ferrari wasn’t perfect in 2024 by any means, they have an argument about being the best team in F1 right now with Hamilton on the way. If Red Bull keeps sliding down the order, Leclerc has enough talent to out-perform the Brit and win it all. Leclerc at 4/1 is a great price for me. (Please gamble responsibly)
MotoGP – Francesco Bagnaia is still really, really, really good and just assuming that Marc Marquez is going to run him over is probably a mistake. I still think Marquez will win the title, but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Bagnaia takes him to a final-round decider. The fact I think this is an outlandish prediction should say it all. And sadly, there’s not much else I can go with because I fear it’ll be a one-team sport for MotoGP in 2025. Prove me wrong, gentlemen.
IndyCar – Kyle Kirkwood title campaign. You heard it here first. I think Andretti’s getting back into title contention territory within IndyCar, and I like the improvements that Kirkwood has made year to year. I think this season could be the one he puts it all together.
What’s the most niche racing series you’d like more people to know about? – Dared00
British Superbikes need more love. It was a series I used to watch every weekend on Eurosport because the racing is the best on two wheels and probably still is. It puts more emphasis on the rider because they take some of the electronics away, unlike the World Superbike series. I just think it lost a lot of its star power in recent years because they’ve moved into either World Superbikes, retired due to age, or tried MotoGP. Not that long ago, BSB had Shakey Byrne, James Ellison, Ryuichi Kiyonari, Josh Brookes, Jake Dixon, Leon Haslam, John Hopkins, Michael Laverty, and so on. It feels like losing those core names has hurt them as a series trying to still get a foothold in a busy market.
But the racing is still some of the best in the world. If you didn’t see the title-deciding showdown between Kyle Ride and Tommy Bridewell earlier this year, you missed out. Make up for it now!
What a title showdown between Kyle Ryde and Tommy Bridewell in the BSB Brands Hatch 🔥pic.twitter.com/Iitv6r1C1D
— Scherazade (@ScherazadeMS) October 13, 2024
What was your favourite M101 recording/episode? – Jason
Man, that’s a tough question. We’ve had 550+ episodes, and I’ve seen well over 500 of them myself. It’s hard even to remember them all, let alone pick just one!
The original draft was fun, I loved the idea of a draft and putting together a superteam of drivers and putting that together with King, RJ, Chris and Matt (Formerly MSTF1, now a colleague of mine!), and seeing the logic and the names selected. Matt taking Romain Dumas out of nowhere still gets me. Old host Adam Johnson going gooey-eyed over Laura Kenny was fun. Reacting to McLaren and Fernando Alonso’s bumping from the Indy 500 was startling and pretty hilarious on the outside looking in as I deliberately withheld from reading information on it going into the show. Some of the Autosport Top 50s were very fun to react to as well.
Some of our live streams have been hilarious too, the Indy 500 ones in particular were so much fun. It’s hard to pick out just one as my ultimate favourite, but if I had to choose – It’s probably Kyle Kaiser bumping Fernando Alonso, it’s one of the few episodes I’ve listened to repeatedly just for my amusement, it is startling looking back just how much they screwed the pooch on their second attempt. And I’ll be honest, laughing at Alonso’s over-egged attempts for the Triple Crown will always be funny.
Will you go to the 24 Hours of Le Mans with me and Danny in 2025? – Anna
I love that you thought of me and reached out, thanks so much! Sadly, I’ll likely have to decline Anna as I would likely be I’m almost certainly going to be working the day job in terms of content for the race itself, and being on holiday to go as a fan probably wouldn’t be the best optics, you know? Maybe one day as an independent, as I’ve always wanted to do it as a bucket list event as a fan, but sadly with my priorities elsewhere it’s just not likely to happen for now. Forgive me!
They’ll be another Ask Dre entering February, but if you have any blog ideas to keep things on tickover through the off-season, do reach out and let me know! Until then, thanks so much for reading and all the best for 2025, check back soon for some more Podcasts!
