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With great relief after the successful creditors meeting, KTM Motorsports Director, Pit Beirer, is flying today via Munich to Bangkok for the start of the MotoGP season at the Chang International Circuit. With Brad Binder, Pedro Acosta, Maverick Viñales, and Enea Bastianini, the Austrian manufacturer has the most promising rider line-up in the premier class since entering the class in 2017. For the first time, Hervé Poncharal's Red Bull Tech3 satellite team doesn't have a newcomer from the Moto2 class on board. And, if you take the results from 2024 and the first two tests in 2025 in Sepang and Buriram as a benchmark, last year's sixth-place Pedro Acosta is the most promising contender for a podium, at least for the first World Championship race this year, since he recently finished fourth overall in Buriram, losing only 0.2 seconds to Marc Márquez's best time.
"Yes, it was amazing how quickly Pedro got the test work done again and put his package together," Beirer said, marveled, during an interview with GPone.com. "If you ultimately not only look at the daily results, but also take into account who was fast at every time of day and on every single day, then you notice: Pedro was up in front in every session and in different conditions. That's why he had the strongest test days of all our riders. That's why we see him as secretly favored among our four guys."
Is Acosta the most gifted talent ever to move up from the Moto3 and the Moto2 to the MotoGP in Red Bull KTM? Something only Binder and Oliveira have managed before. After all, Acosta has been called the "new Marc Márquez" for years. It's no wonder. In 2021, the Spanish rider won three of the first four World Championship races as a newcomer at the age of 17 in the Moto3 World Championship on the Red Bull KTM Ajo team.
"Yes. And, during his Moto3 debut in Doha, he even had to start out of the pit lane," Pit recalled. "Pedro is an exceptional talent, the kind you probably only find once in a decade. He's not the normal Moto2 world champion who then moves up into the higher category, but he's an exceptional diamond in the rough. The whole scene agrees on that. But he has big shoes to fill if you compare him to Marc Márquez, already after his first MotoGP season. Besides, these comparisons are of no use to us. We have to focus on working with him. Pedro gives us everything, and he demands everything from us. For example, when it comes to the question of whether we've done everything to put the best possible motorcycle in the pit for him. When, during the winter, he asked us whether we were prepared to give him a winning motorcycle, we said 'yes'. We promised him that."
"Instead, we see that he wants to ride a motorcycle every day, and is tirelessly working to find tracks to train on. The results of his fitness and performance tests are all extremely good. Pedro gives it his all. We call him a rough diamond. But he wasn't just born with a great talent, and he's not resting on his laurels. He certainly has a huge amount of talent, but he also works day and night to achieve maximum success. He rides his motorcycle day and night. In my opinion, more than anyone else, and he's certainly the last rider to leave the paddock because he studies the data very thoroughly with his ,crew chief Paul Trevathan. With his meticulous approach, Pedro reminds me a lot of Michael Schumacher, who always got the most out of his technical package."
Acosta also has high demands from KTM with regard to his two-wheel fleet. "Pedro received motorcycles from us with large and small studs and also with street tires," Beirer said. "He uses a lot of motorcycles, materia,l and tires. And we also made an agreement with Aspar Martinez that he can access Aspar's training facilities at any time. So he rides dirt track, motocross, and so on. There are great videos of the tricks Pedro performs with the KTM RC8, for example. It's only on a near-production motorcycle that you see what artists the MotoGP riders are and what they can do with a bike that you can buy at a dealer around the corner."
After a few anxious months, yesterday, the creditors approved KTM AG's restructuring plan. Production, which was stopped on December 13th, will start again on March 17th.
"For KTM, yesterday’s decision wasn't just about racing but about the entire site in Innviertel, with more than 4,200 jobs. It was a relief for the whole company that we were able to complete the restructuring process as planned," Pit Beirer stated. "Now there's a new beginning. As far as motorsport sis concerned, we've planned everything for 2025, and this restructuring plan always specified exactly how much effort we were allowed in order to continue. Now the work really starts again for all of us."
The racing department was adapted to the new volume of production and the significantly reduced sales. Since only 230,000 motorcycles (2023: 381,555) are planned for 2025, the contracts of twelve factory riders were not renewed, and the motorsports activities for Husqvarna and GASGAS were greatly reduced in this cost saving agenda.
"The 90-day restructuring process meant a diet for us, which we all went through. We met all the conditions that were imposed on us. It wasn't an easy task," Beirer admitted. "Now we're ready to really open the throttle again. The KTM company is ready for a new start, and motorsports will play an important role in this. We're delighted about that. Yesterday, we enjoyed the positive decision that KTM could continue. Now we're rolling up our sleeves. We'll be busy, and we'll soon get the company up and running again."
