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The 20-year-old rider, Pedro Acosta, has been called the "new Marc Márquez" for some time now: an attribute that was also assigned to Rául Fernández in 2021, when the Spanish rider clinched eight GP victories in his first Moto2 World Championship season, one more than Márquez in his Moto2 debut season in 2011. But Raúl Fernández failed to live up to expectations in his first MotoGP year with Tech3-KTM in 2022 and hasn't consistently demonstrated his undisputed talent with the Aprilia satellite teams of RNF and Trackhouse over the past two years. Pedro Acosta is a different caliber, which is why he's been sought after by other manufacturers for years, and Yamaha, Honda, and Ducati have repeatedly inquired about his contract status with Pierer Mobility AG, where he's also committed for 2025 and 2026.
After three busy test days for the four factory Red Bull KTM riders at Sepang, Pedro Acosta was leading the way in sixth place with a 1'57"175 on Friday. The former Moto3 and Moto2 World Champion explained that KTM has a lot of parts to determine what will form its 2025 package. "60% of a race bike," he replied when asked how close the race package was to being finalized. "At the moment, I’m quite happy with the things that we tested. The problem now is that we have to use a filter and find out what pieces we need to put together. But we have to be happy and calm."
Acosta admitted the work KTM did on Friday at Sepang "saved the tests" after struggling to get through the program on day two, due to various issues. "At the end, we tried many things," he said. "On Thursday, we had a lot of problems in the morning, and the work in the afternoon was quite tricky to draw a clear conclusion. But we saved the test on Friday. That made me quite happy because were fast in all the conditions, in all the moments around the day, and with a good pace." But Acosta, Rookie of the year and sixth overall in 2025 riding for the GASGAS Tech3 team, is still looking "to make a bike that's a bit calmer compared to last year’s, but, currently, I feel quite okay in terms of pace and in terms of time attack." Acosta also noted that KTM still has "parts in my pocket and many things to test that are quite interesting" for the Buriram test.
Acosta managed a good time attack effort on Friday and even completed a solid sprint simulation, although he admits he had to contend with tire issues. "Something strange happened in my sprint simulation, because that tire had zero grip from the moment I left the pitlane," he wondered. "It was quite strange also for me. On the third lap, I was already fighting to survive. Then we mounted another tire starting in the morning, with 10 laps, and it was absolutely fine. I was 0.4 seconds faster after the tire change. This isn't normal. Anyway, we feel we're closer to the top than last year."
Acosta lost 0.682 seconds to Alex Márquez in first place and dropping teammate Brad Binder (13th) by 0.439 seconds. "I came here for the first time without the three-day shakedown test, and everything was fast. But we're quite happy about the sprint race simulation."
As a newcomer to the premier class in 2024, Acosta delivered unique performances and achieved nine podium places: five on Sunday, four on Saturday in the Sprints. He only had to give up a magnificent fifth place in the World Championship to his KTM colleague, Brad Binder, by two points, because he recorded too many zeros after his falls, for example, in both competitions in Motegi/Japan and Phillip Island/Australia. In Japan, he led Bagnaia by 2.5 seconds in the Sprint until shortly before the finish. The Binder versus Acosta duel ultimately ended with 217 to 215 points in favor of the South African. Since the Moto2 World Champion Augusto Fernández had only scored 71 points in 2023, which was the first year of the Sprints. Augusto joined Tech3 as a MotoGP rookie and didn't get beyond a 17th place overall in the World Championship. The aggressive and gifted Acosta collected three times as many World Championship points in his first MotoGP season 2024.
KTM Motorsport Director Pit Beirer wants to get one of his four factory riders into the top three in the 2025 World Championship. And, of course, Acosta can also be trusted to achieve such a brilliant performance if he can significantly reduce the number of twelve zeros from his 2024 season. The new Team Manager, Aki Ajo, who took over from Francesco Guidotti after the World Championship finale in Barcelona, is expected to play a valuable role in this planned performance increase. The Finnish Red Bull KTM team owner had Acosta under his wing in the Moto3 and Moto2 and won the Moto3 and Moto2 World Championships with him in 2021 and 2023.
"I'm one-hundred percent convinced that Aki will have a positive influence on Pedro," Beirer explained in an exclusive interview with GPone.com. "Aki is a prime example of how to lead riders without giving them too much freedom and simply watching what results come out of it. He displays the ideal mix of sterness and father figure. We're using and feeling this advantage right now, even though Pedro is very mature for his age and always acts very professionally. And do not forget: Aki not only became World Champion with Pedro, but also in 2016 in the Moto3, in collaboration with Brad Binder. The riders and the team manager don't have to get to know each other, and everyone around them knows each other, too. We're convinced that Aki, thanks to his experience and past successes, will do a great job as our new MotoGP factory team manager."
Red Bull KTM sent Dani Pedrosa and Pol Espargaró to the Shakedown test in Sepang. Both will most possibly share the three wildcard assignments in 2025. "We haven't made final agreements about the wild cards," Beirer admitted.
After his year as a Yamaha MotoGP test rider, Jonas Folger has been involved in the development of the KTM RC16 since 2020 and replaced the injured Pol Espargaró in the Tech3 team from Texas in April to August 2023. He's still under contract with the Austrian manufacturer. "Jonas has a contract with us for 2025 and is part of the MotoGP test program," reported Pit Beirer explained. "But he's now also involved in the development department and was involved in the development of the 990 KTM, for example. Jonas also tests WP suspension products for us, from series to racing products. But he also tests parts for the MotoGP KTM RC16 from time to time. Jonas isn't only a rider but also a member of KTM AG."
