After a career with the orange KTM team, Pedro Acosta will switch to the red Ducati next year. This move was actively pursued and strongly desired by the Spaniard, who will thus join Marc Marquez in the Ducati garage starting in 2027. “It’s the most important step of my life,” the “Shark from Murcia” told reporters. He’s more excited than intimidated by the prospect of sharing the garage with Marquez, who has often put his teammates in a tough spot —his latest notable victim being none other than Bagnaia, who will be handing over his seat to Acosta. “I hope he’ll share some of his experience with me,” he summarized, “after all, I don’t know if I’d have had other opportunities,” he added.
But the future will have to wait, because the present—that of KTM and its technical problems, which have so far kept him from his first victory— calls him once again to put himself to the test on the Assen track.
Next year you’ll be riding for the Ducati Factory team, the manufacturer that has won the last four riders’ world championships and six manufacturers’ titles.
“I’m really happy; it was the goal I’d been pursuing in my career,” said Acosta, “the next step I wanted to take. It was the paddock’s best-kept secret!” he joked. “It’s the most important step of my life—I’m thrilled! But there’s still a lot of work to do this year; I’m still trying to achieve that small goal of my first win. I’m glad, though, that they’ve placed their trust in me.”
You’ll be sharing the garage with Marquez.
“It’s an honour for me to share this with him; he’s in the final stages of his career, and I’m just starting mine in MotoGP. It’ll be a great opportunity for me to learn from him and draw on some of his experience. He’s the last of his era, and in his early years he raced against riders like Pedrosa, Lorenzo, and Valentino. Maybe I can learn something from him—he’s won nine titles and knows how to handle races and the pressure. Perhaps he can share some of that experience with me.”
Historically, he’s always dominated his teammate—what’s your relationship like? Is there already a rivalry?
"No, I think this is the best thing that could have happened to me. I’ll be riding alongside a teammate who has a wealth of experience, and I don’t think there would have been many other opportunities to share a garage with him. We have a professional relationship; there’s no need for us to hug or go out to dinner together. Rivalry comes out when you’re fighting for a championship, not because someone joins your team—right now, there isn’t any.”
If Marc had gone to KTM, would you have stayed? If he’d gone to Honda, would you have followed him?
"Hard to say. In the end, I had a very clear idea of what I wanted, and that’s how it turned out. It was the clearest decision I’ve ever made, so I don’t know what we would have done."
You’re coming off a frustrating weekend at Brno—will KTM provide any answers?
“It was a difficult weekend, even for us to figure out what happened because we had a different problem every day. Ultimately, there are things that are out of my control; now KTM will try to get to the bottom of it and find solutions, even though it seems it will be difficult to get them before the Sachsenring. What’s clear is that we can’t risk having technical problems again. I don’t know what they brought here; we’ll find out tomorrow, so it’ll be interesting. We have to try to make the most of what we have, and then after the summer break, we’ll see where we stand.”
You won’t be riding a KTM next year, but you had the chance to test the 850 at Brno.
“I think it’ll be just as interesting for us as it is for the fans. It feels like a different class; compared to the power of our current engines, the difference is noticeable, but my first impression was positive. It was helpful for understanding what the new category will be like; it was clear the bikes would be less powerful, but I think there was a bit of a shock because the current bikes are much faster— it felt a bit like going back to Moto2.”
Expectations for Assen?
“I’ve always struggled here, even in the lower categories. Maybe last year was when I came closest to the podium; I enjoyed battling with Pecco and was close to the group with Marc and Bezzecchi.”