There are riders who burst onto the MotoGP scene about whom the general consensus is not if, but when, they will win their first race. Pedro Acosta was one such rider and, if it took him longer than expected to win a Grand Prix, it was always inevitable. That it should finally happen at both KTM and Red Bull’s home race was poetic justice. That it should happen at the moment Acosta finally loses patience with KTM and is about to jump ship to Ducati for 2027 will be a source of regret for KTM management and not a little worry.
For Acosta has been the only rider to consistently fight at the sharp end of races on the KTM RC16 for the past three years. Has this been at the expense of his teammate? We’ll likely never know, but Acosta has clearly been afforded “favoured” status in the team. Whether this means he has been given the latest and most developed parts or whether he has simply been the rider to best gel with the difficult RC16, we’ll also likely never know.
What we can say with certainty is that Austria was the first win of many to come. That it hasn’t happened sooner is a sad reflection on the fact that KTM has never managed to put a motorcycle underneath him that matches his speed. Acosta has prodigious talent, a precocious self-belief and, from next year, what might be the best bike on the grid. He’ll also have the best rider in the world right now as his teammate, but as Acosta also has a healthy disregard for the reputations of his fellow riders, that shouldn’t be a problem for him; Marc is just another rider to beat. Having that first win under his belt – and who’s to say there won’t be another before 2026 is out – will give him a huge confidence boost; he’s finally proved he can do what he’s always said he can do, so it’s two fingers up to the doubters.
There are still flaws in his make-up; his error on Saturday in the Sprint race was that of a rookie in his first season, finding himself in over his head, leading a race for the first time, not a veteran of two world championships (Moto3 and Moto2), three years in MotoGP and umpteen podiums. He claims he was checking his dashboard to see how many laps were left and his fuel situation, but it was an odd place to be doing that, approaching the braking zone for a corner.
It did add an extra layer of excitement to Sunday’s Grand Prix; leading as he did from before halfway, would he throw it away yet again? Of course, he didn’t, and there was precious little the chasing Aprilias of Martin and Bezzecchi could do about it. They weren’t far behind at the flag, but they were behind, and that’s all that matters.
Look, the KTMs were fast all weekend; not only Acosta’s speed but also Brad Binder’s excellent showing throughout practice, qualifying and both races was evidence of that; realistically, that should have brought them merely to the level of Ducati and Aprilia, not given Acosta the advantage he eventually had. Ducati (Marquez) took the double here last year, but the general consensus is that Spielberg is not suited to the Ducati; although, in fact, the GP26 and its predecessors don’t tend to like the stiffer-carcass tyres Michelin brings for whatever reason, while the Aprilias love them.
Talking of Aprilia, how was Ai Ogura’s weekend, coming back from injury to take a brace of 4th places? As KTM has been careless to lose Acosta, so Aprilia might rue the day it allowed Ogura to slip through its fingers. Yes, the Aprilia RS-GP is the best bike on the grid, but Ogura’s teammate, Raul Fernandez, could only manage 19th and 12th, respectively, which puts Ogura’s performance into context.
The big question now is, do we consider Acosta a championship contender? He’s 72-points behind title leader Jorge Martin, with a possible 259 points still to be won. Acosta will have to find a whole heap of performance and reliability and hope that his rivals run out of both, but stranger things have happened.
Marc Marquez was in no doubt as to the possibility of Acosta catching up; “I was 102 points behind seven races ago…so he’s in the championship.” Acosta, for his part, harangued the KTM engineers and mechanics before the summer break to give him what he needs, and it seems as if KTM has got on top of the engine reliability problems, after being allowed by the other teams to open their engines to replace the suspect parts that were causing problems. It has all worked; since the summer break, Acosta has scored a fifth, a second, a third and a win in the Grands Prix.
For the first time in his MotoGP career, he heads to the next round in Japan, a race winner, and the timing is excellent; Motegi is another hard braking circuit, and where does Acosta hold an advantage over his rivals? In hard braking areas, which is why he was so effective in Austria. At Motegi in 2024, he was on pole and only a crash put paid to hopes of a maiden win, while in 2025, he was third in the Sprint. Now that his bike has the reliable speed, he can keep up with the Ducatis and Aprilias to best make use of his trump card.
After Japan, everyone travels to Indonesia, which is another track to which Michelin will bring its harder carcass rear tyre. Don’t forget, the KTM and Aprilia love that tyre, while the Ducatis don’t. So, if Acosta can capitalise on both those races at the expense of his rivals, then his title challenge is well and truly on. Mind you, both Martin and Bezzecchi will benefit as well, so expect the fight at the front to be intense.
Throw in a properly pissed-off Marc Marquez, after his Austria “struggles” (I’m sure many other riders on the grid would love to have struggles like that if it means second and fifth place finishes…!) and you just know he isn’t going to lie down and play the percentage game too hard; he wants to win and his “win at no cost” approach is surely never too far from the surface, despite his calmer, more measured approach to racing over the past two years.
With the points situation being so close, the run-in to the season finale is going to be a case of: he who blinks first, comes last! And it all starts in Japan in two weeks’ time.
