Pedro Acosta’s clear demands on KTM for the upcoming MotoGP season: “We need to be half a second faster”

Pedro Acosta In his mind, he is thinking of making a quality leap in 2026 and finally winning a MotoGP race and being able to compete head-to-head with the best in the world. ducati and the opposite aprilia To become world champion. For this reason, Spanish could not be more demanding. KTMis a brand whose contract ends next year, and if there is no improvement, it will definitely be time to part ways.

This Tuesday, it’s time to test the first version of next season’s bike at the Cheste Test. It didn’t feel bad at all. The 21-year-old driver finished fifth, just two tenths off Raul Fernandes’ time. But Acosta needs more.

“I don’t like test days at all, but I think it was a productive day for what we shot in the morning. We had enough tests so we should go home satisfied. Let’s see how the analysis goes.”. I concentrated on the aerodynamics part. After losing all morning, I had to focus on what was important.. I tried two different fairings and a new saddle and it was clear it would work,” he told DAZN.

“It’s a very gray day today. It wasn’t a day to push too hard, but it’s true that the last thing we tried went pretty well. What can we expect in Sepang?” Please make it 0.5 seconds faster. “It takes quite a bit to do that.”

Where can we improve?

Acosta recognizes that the Austrian factory is working hard to operate at the speed of other brands. However, he is also clear about the weaknesses to focus on.

“At least make it a little more complete. I know we have very strong braking and very strong starts, but we need to be more consistent in each race so we don’t have those ups and downs.. If we do that, we’ll be on the podium more often. It’s true that we achieved that at the end of the year.”

“I also hope that next year the level will be a little bit higher for sure, because this year we are already going at a very fast pace. Ducati is very strong, Aprilia has taken a very important step with Bezzecchi and Raul Fernandes, and Martin has also taken a step back. So I think next year will be a very competitive year. Everything has to be balanced very well,” he said in conclusion.